The Rinnegan Maelstrom
by Leonineus
Summary: After the unfortunate mishap in which Naruto kissed Sasuke, Sasuke's fangirls object... violently. During the ensuing beating, Naruto awakens a bloodline not seen since the Second Great Shinobi War. Powerful!Naruto, Naru/Hina/fem!Sasu
1. Blood and Tears

The Rinnegan Maelstrom

Chapter One: Blood and Tears

"NARUTO!"

As the blond staggered back from the Uchiha heir and tried to spit out the taste of his fellow future-genin's mouth, he felt numerous killing intents focussing on him and just had time to realize what was about to happen when a fist slammed into the side of his head and sent him careening into the wall.

As Naruto shakily attempted to rise, he heard running feet and then multiple fists and feet hitting his body from multiple different directions. Unable to defend himself; all he could do was curl into a ball and wait for it to end.

It didn't. The beating went on… and on… and on. After the fifth foot smashed against his jaw and Naruto felt several of his teeth jar loose, he lapsed into brief unconsciousness at the pain.

The members of the Sasuke fan club surrounding Naruto first realized something was wrong when a reddish glow started to emanate from the boy. When Naruto caught Sakura Haruno's foot and twisted, dislocating her ankle with a painful _clunk _and resulting in a scream from the pink-haired girl in question, the girls leapt away and watched as the boy straightened up, bloodied and bruised. They all simultaneously gulped as they saw that the boy's whisker birthmarks were thicker than usual and his eyes were no longer their usual cerulean blue; they were now red and had slit pupils.

Naruto then spoke; in a layered, growling voice that drew all the graduating kids' attentions as he raised a hand and pointed it at the girls, who cowered slightly, though for what reason they did not know, **"Remember, all of you. You were the ones who drove me to do this!" **He brought his hands together in a series of seals unfamiliar to all of them, **"You were the ones who drove me to take control of my vessel, and now you will pay the price! Rinnegan: Activate!"**

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before he reopened them and everybody surrounding him cowered as one. Naruto's eyes had changed; they now each had three concentric circles moving outwards from his pupils on top of the standard cerulean colour. A fourth was just visible in the corners of his eyes as he raised his hand and aimed his palm at the girls, **"Get over the damn Uchiha, he's just a kid. A kid whose bloodline hasn't even activated yet. You're all a disgrace to shinobi. Now… Shinra Tensei!"**

All the girls were flung straight off their feet and into the opposite wall, some even crashing _through _the thin panelling to come to rest in the hallway. Naruto slowly lowered his hand and intoned, **"And let that be a lesson to you. Next time I will not be so lenient."**

He sat back down; ignoring the gaping looks he was getting from the rest of the room as Iruka walked in and asked why some of the girls in the class were lying in the corridor outside and groaning with pain.

-TRM-

"Naruto, would you care to explain why you threw a number of your classmates through a wall, and how?" asked Sarutobi two hours later.

Naruto, who was seated opposite him, shrugged, "I don't know. They started beating on me for something that was a total accident and then I can't remember anything until I woke up in here. I think _he_ took over."

Sarutobi nodded quietly to himself before addressing the man standing in the corner behind him, "I take it _you_ recognize this dōjutsu, Jiraiya-kun?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Yes. I've seen it before. It's known as the Rinnegan, it's a dōjutsu that hasn't been seen by anybody except me since the Rikudō Sennin died. I saw it in a kid back during the war. These three kids came to us asking to be taught ninjutsu so that they could defend themselves. I took them on, and one day they got attacked. One of the kids managed to activate the Rinnegan and kill the attacker. His name was Nagato. Last I heard; he and his friends were all dead."

Sarutobi nodded, "A shame. He might've been able to teach Naruto how to use this dōjutsu."

Naruto spoke up, "The Kyūbi says he did take me over after I passed out, and he was the one who threw those girls through the wall with something called the Shinra Tensei. He also says he can teach me how to use this, something about all dōjutsu originally coming from him, even the Byakugan and Sharingan. There is apparently another one called the Benigan, but he doesn't know if anybody still exists who has that bloodline."

-TRM-

Many miles away, a small boy in a pod sneezed.

"Are you alright, Ranmaru?" said a slightly concerned voice from outside the pod.

"Yes, Raiga-sama. I am fine…" replied Ranmaru, but he was inwardly wondering who was talking about him.

-TRM-

"Very well," said Sarutobi, "But are you sure you can trust the Kyūbi, Naruto?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment he seemed to shudder and then his whiskers visibly thickened. His Rinnegan disappeared, his pupils reformed into vertical slits and his irises went scarlet. A second later he said, **"What do you take me for? A demon's word is his bond, particularly a bijuu like me!"**

Both Sarutobi and Jiraiya were briefly taken aback by the fact that they were suddenly conversing with the most feared bijuu of them all. Steeling himself, Sarutobi said, "You did attack Konoha, so forgive me if I don't immediately believe everything you say."

Kyūbi-Naruto scowled, exposing sharp teeth, **"That's what you thought happened? I attacked of my own free will?"**

At Sarutobi's nod he snorted, **"Not likely. I was happy sealed in my last container. She was a most interesting conversationalist. But then that insolent whelp they called the progenitor of the Uchiha clan ripped me out of my nice, cozy, comfortable seal and used me like an attack dog with that thrice-damned pink-eye of his."**

Sarutobi had been wondering how much more insane things were going to get. He got his answer, but didn't much like it, "Progenitor of the Uchiha clan? You mean Madara Uchiha? Impossible, he's been dead since before the Nidaime took his seat!"

Kyūbi-Naruto scowled, **"That's what you think. He's very much alive, in reality. If I understand correctly, and I only say that because that night is all a little hazy even now, the Yondaime figured out that I was being controlled by Madara and realized that the only way to stop my rampage was to seal me. So he did, inside this little meat bag." **He thumped his fist against Naruto's chest.

Jiraiya frowned, "So you don't want to get out of the seal after all?"

Kyūbi-Naruto scowled, **"Now I remember what I liked about the Yondaime's wife when I was sealed inside her. She didn't ask me stupid questions all the time; she just worked with me to make things better. No, I don't want out. I want to stay in here. If this brat is anything like my last jinchūriki, which I'm fairly sure he is considering the amount of times he's ever looked in a mirror, he's going to be a fun guy to have around when he grows up, particularly with this!" **He raised a clawed finger and pointed at his eyes, before he lowered it again and a hint of thoughtful contemplation entered his expression, **"Maybe if I'd given her this dōjutsu last time, things wouldn't have ended up going the way they did. I liked the Yondaime and his wife, they always respected me. The Yondaime was a killer shogi player; I always enjoyed playing with him when his wife allowed me control of her body so I could breathe free air for a while."**

Sarutobi leaned forwards, his businesslike expression back in place, "You said you were going to teach Naruto how to use the Rinnegan. What does that entail?"

Kyūbi-Naruto smirked, tapping a claw against his chin in thought for a moment before he said, **"The Rinnegan allows the user to master all five elements, as well as to use the special techniques unique to the Six Paths, but since it would take me hours to tell you all of them, I will simply tell you in detail of the first Path and give you a rough summary of the rest later on."**

He leaned back in his chair, **"The Deva Path gives the user the ability to manipulate gravity to repel or attract objects. This is the technique I used on the girls earlier; it's called the Shinra Tensei, or Almighty Push. There are another two techniques in the Deva arsenal, the Banshō Ten'in, or Universal Pull, which attracts objects. The other technique is the Chibaku Tensei, or Planetary Devastation, which creates a small ball of black energy which then flies high into the air. The ball then creates a gravitational field which pulls objects up from the ground below until it resembles a huge ball. That jutsu is what the Rikudō Sennin used to get rid of the Jūbi's body centuries ago, after he'd sealed its mind and chakra inside himself."**

"He did what?"

Kyūbi-Naruto smiled a mysterious smile before walking to the window and pointing up at the sky. Even though it was late spring, the moon was clearly visible above them as a pale disc. **"There it is. The Jūbi's body."**

Sarutobi and Jiraiya leaned over. Jiraiya was the one to voice their confusion, "That's the moon, Kyūbi."

Kyūbi-Naruto turned back towards them and quirked an eyebrow, **"The Rikudō Sennin was regarded as the most powerful shinobi who ever lived. Are you denying that he could do a Chibaku Tensei powerful enough to rip huge enough chunks from the ground to form the Moon?"**

The two men gave him a stupid look for a long moment before nodding in understanding. Kyūbi-Naruto snorted, **"You don't understand. You can't understand; the magnitude of such a technique is too great for your human minds to comprehend."**

He stretched slightly, a cracking noise issuing from his spine before he looked back at them and said, **"I can tell you still don't quite trust me, but I stand by what I said earlier. A demon's word is his bond, and that is especially true of the bijuu, the overlords of the demon realm. I will train Naruto in the use of his Rinnegan and in the use of my chakra. If he can perfect his usage of both, I believe he may even be able to surpass your Yondaime **_**and **_**the Rikudō Sennin."**

Sarutobi's jaw couldn't help but drop; that was high praise, particularly when it was coming from the most powerful bijuu. **"Two more questions before I depart back behind my seal and have a nap," **continued Kyūbi-Naruto, **"Who is Naruto's jōnin-sensei to be, and might I be permitted to tell Naruto of his parents? I think that jutsu that his father created might be especially useful in conjunction with the Rinnegan's powers, actually both of them would be useful."**

Sarutobi thought it over and then said, "Jiraiya-kun can teach him the lesser jutsu, but I would prefer to wait before he learns the other. Maybe after he reaches chūnin. As for his parents, maybe. Let's see how he functions normally first."

Kyūbi-Naruto nodded, **"Very well, and his jōnin-sensei?"**

"Kakashi Hatake. Their meeting was postponed since Naruto was here, he will need to meet them tomorrow at midday. Kakashi said he wanted them on top of the Hokage Monument for their introductions."

Kyūbi-Naruto nodded again before he closed his eyes, **"Fine. I will stay behind my seal until after their introductions, and then I will begin Naruto's training in the use of his Rinnegan."**

Naruto's whiskers returned to their normal thickness, his claws turned back into fingernails and when he opened his eyes, they were again cerulean and adorned with concentric circles. "What did he say?"

Sarutobi wet his lips with the tip of his tongue, thinking for a long moment, before he said, "Your new sensei will be Kakashi Hatake, he wants to see you on top of the Hokage Monument at midday tomorrow. Now go home and sleep. You just awakened a kekkei genkai, that's going to… take it… out of you." He trailed off as Naruto suddenly collapsed to the floor, snoring.

"Jiraiya, carry him home would you? I have paperwork to do."

Jiraiya nodded, picking up his godson and climbing out of the window. Before he leapt off the roof outside, however, he turned back to Sarutobi, "Sensei, do you think what the Kyūbi said is true? Do you think Naruto is capable of that jutsu?"

Sarutobi turned to face his student, "He's his father's son and Minato's blood runs true in him. If anybody can achieve full use of the Hiraishin _and_ complete the Rasengan, it's Naruto."

Jiraiya nodded, turning away and leaping off the roof, and leaving Sarutobi to his thoughts.

-TRM-

Naruto woke up the next morning to find himself lying in bed at home. Glancing at the alarm clock next to him, he got up and changed into some clean clothes, before quickly grabbing something to eat and leaving the flat, heading for the Hokage Monument.

Kakashi Hatake arrived at four o'clock to find his three new genin sitting in the grass. Or more accurately, a boy brooding on the edge of the Monument, the single girl simpering quietly over the brooder, and the third member of the group lying in the grass with his eyes closed, evidently having a quiet nap.

Kakashi coughed, drawing the attention of the pair on the edge of the Monument. "YOU'RE LATE!" screeched the girl, causing Kakashi to wince at the pitch of her voice. The black-haired boy she had been fawning over simply uttered a soft "huh" and went back to staring out over the village.

Kakashi sighed and said, "Come here you two. Let's get this over with. Hey kid," he addressed the snoozing boy, "Wake up."

The boy didn't react. The pink-haired girl stormed over to him and lifted up her foot over his crotch. It was only now that Kakashi noticed the girl was wearing a neck brace (how she could even turn her head was a mystery to him) and one of her arms was bound up in a sling. "WAKE UP, BAKA!"

The girl made to stomp hard on the boy's crotch, but at the last second his hand shot up and caught her foot, "Want me to break your ankle to go along with your neck and arm, Haruno?" His eyes opened, and Kakashi noticed that each contained three concentric circles radiating out from the pupil.

The girl jerked her foot out of his grip with an expression that suggested she loathed the boy with every fibre of her being and stalked over to sit under a tree.

"Fine," said Kakashi, running a hand through his hair and pointing at the black-haired boy, "You first, sulky. Likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, etc."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I dislike a lot of things, but it's not like it matters, seeing as there is almost nothing I like. It seems pointless to talk about dreams, it's just a word. But what I do have is determination. I will restore my clan, and there is somebody I have sworn to kill."

Kakashi sighed; he had an avenger. Turning to the pink-haired girl, he pointed at her and said, "Pinky with the bandaged arm,"

"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like…" she glanced at Sasuke and giggled to herself before continuing, "My dreams for the future are…" she stopped, looked at Sasuke, giggled and got a nosebleed, "And I dislike Naruto-baka!"

She threw him a vindictive sideways look as though hoping he'd be offended, but was obviously disappointed when the boy who seemed to have gone back to sleep opened one lazy eye and said, "Ooh, my heart bleeds, Sakura-_chan_," somehow managing to make the honorific sound _extremely_ offensive, "I'm utterly devastated that you don't like me, which I think you proved when you attacked me yesterday for something that was a complete accident. I have to thank you and the other girls though; if you hadn't attacked me like that I wouldn't have unlocked my kekkei genkai."

Kakashi palmed his face, now he had a perverted fangirl _and_ she hated the other student. This team was already doomed. The blond was interesting though…

Kakashi pointed at him, "You, blondie, talk."

Naruto cracked open his other eye and looked up at Kakashi with both eyes, a vaguely disinterested expression on his face, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are training, learning new jutsu and figuring out how to use this new dōjutsu. My dislikes include the teme there, the forehead over there, and people who try to either assault me for no reason," he said as he blocked a furious kick at his head from Sakura with his elbow, prompting a crunching noise from her ankle and a whimper of pain from the girl herself, "and think they're better than me because I keep a big evil monster from using them as toothpicks."

"_Interesting, it seems he knows about the Kyūbi… I need to talk to the Hokage about this new dōjutsu."_

"Right then, I want to see all three of you on Training Ground #7 tomorrow morning at six a.m., alright? I need to go ask the Hokage a few questions. I suggest you don't eat any breakfast or you'll throw up."

Naruto nodded and left. As soon as he got home, he cooked some instant ramen, read a book for about half an hour and then lay down to sleep.

-TRM-

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself standing before a large cage. Looking around to try and figure out his bearings (and wondering if the villagers had snuck into his apartment and locked him in the sewers again), Naruto decided to look for a keyhole and stuck his head between the bars to search. So engrossed in said search was he that he did not immediately register the very large set of sharp teeth moving towards his head until a warm breeze touched the back of his neck.

Looking up, he was just in time to yank his head back to safety before the huge jaws descended, clashing together with a noise like two portcullises hitting each other. "What the hell?"

Two huge burning red eyes appeared above the set of fangs, looking down on Naruto with an oddly pleased expression, **"You've got good reflexes, kid."**

Naruto stared up at the giant fangs and eyes in puzzlement, "Who are you and what are you doing in the Konoha sewers?"

The eyes looked down at him curiously, **"The Konoha sewers? This is your mindscape, moron."**

"It is? Oh. That explains a lot."

"**Anyway, you're here because I want to show you something. You know your shadow clones?"**

"Yes…"

"**Well, something you probably won't know is that your shadow clones send their memories back to you when they dispel. For example, if you were to send a clone to eat some ramen at that little shack you frequent, and then it dispelled from something a few seconds after eating, you would not only remember eating the ramen, but you would know what the clone ate and how it dispelled."**

Naruto looked stunned, "How do you know this?"

The Kyūbi smiled, if exposing even more teeth to Naruto's sight counted as smiling, **"My last jinchūriki used shadow clones extensively like you did the other night. I must've picked up more little pieces of trivia about that technique than any other. Anyway, another interesting titbit about the Shadow Clone Jutsu is that you can also use them for other purposes. Namely, you can actually use them to sleep for you."**

"Really?"

"**Yes. Now, I want you to wake up again, and create exactly eleven clones. Ten will sleep in the apartment and I will take over the other one. Begone!"**

With that last word ringing in his ears, Naruto was flung from his mindscape, opening his eyes again to find himself lying in bed.

Rolling out of bed, he formed the seal for Shadow Clone Jutsu and watched eleven identical copies appear. Ten immediately lay down to sleep, while the eleventh suddenly developed sharper fingernails and teeth, slit pupils and red irises and thicker whisker marks.

"**Come," **the Kyūbi-clone growled, before walking to the window and opening it.

Naruto followed.

-TRM-

Yūgao Uzuki was _bored_. She had had the misfortune to draw the short straw for night patrol, meaning that she was stuck standing on a cold rooftop overlooking Konoha's main street, almost directly opposite the Yamanaka flower shop.

With a sigh of longing at the thought of her nice, warm bed back at home, Yūgao stretched and resisted the urge to remove her cat mask for a few minutes to give her face some air. It was against the ANBU code to remove your mask for _any_ reason. If the worst came to the worst, you were to die with your mask on and hopefully incinerate your body with your last breath if in enemy territory.

She suddenly noticed two small figures creeping through the shadows, and immediately signalled another ANBU to watch her back as she moved to intercept.

Naruto and the Kyūbi-clone were slipping along the street when an ANBU suddenly appeared in front of them, her katana in her hand. Naruto jumped, "Hello, ANBU-san!"

The ANBU scrutinized Naruto for a long moment through her mask before saying, "Naruto Uzumaki. Where might you be going so late at night?"

Naruto swallowed, "To train."

"This late?"

"It's kinda important. I just unlocked my kekkei genkai and I need to learn a few attacks before Kakashi starts on us tomorrow."

Yūgao tilted her head to one side. She remembered the stories surrounding Kakashi Hatake's bell test, and knew that this boy would need all the help he could get if he were going to pass.

"Alright," she finally said, "I will escort you to a training field. What about your friend there?"

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's a clone and mostly harmless."

The clone in question growled, **"Mostly harmless? I'll give you mostly harmless, brat."**

"Shut up, clone."

Yūgao chuckled at the exchange of insults between the clone and his creator before she finally cleared her throat, "Ok, shall we go?"

Naruto finally scowled at the clone one last time before dispelling it and said, "I need to go to Training Ground #7. Kakashi told me to turn up there tomorrow morning."

Yūgao nodded and sheathed her katana, "Word of warning, kid. Kakashi Hatake has never passed a genin team for one reason and one reason only; they _never_ worked as a team. You're going to need to persuade your team-mates to work with you if you want to pass."

Naruto snorted as they walked off down the street, "Fat chance of that happening. One thinks he's better than me because he's the _Uchiha_, and the other is an Uchiha fangirl who hates my guts because I threw her through a wall in self-defence and busted her arm up."

Yūgao stared at him for a long moment before she suddenly laughed and ruffled his hair, "I see what you mean. Then I would recommend you get used to using all those clones of yours. With luck, Kakashi might pass you just for your teamwork with your clones."

-TRM-

The ANBU left Naruto at the training field and headed back the way she had come, saying she needed to return to her post before anyone realized she was gone other than the ANBU she had asked to watch her back.

Naruto nodded, watching her disappear into the darkness before forming his favourite handseal. Oddly, the Rinnegan allowed him to see very well.

"_**Actually, that's me,"**_said Kyūbi's voice inside his head, _**"Being my jinchūriki has given you some of my traits, night vision being one of them. Now, create thirty clones."**_

Naruto nodded, channelling chakra through his fingers. A half-second later he buckled, his hands over his eyes. Seeing himself from thirty different angles _hurt_.

"_**Oh damn,"**_growled the Kyūbi, _**"I forgot that would happen. Concentrate, Naruto. You managed to fight down the memories of those three hundred clones the other night when you beat up the traitor, you can manage now!"**_

Naruto gritted his teeth and managed to concentrate through the multiple viewpoints he was suddenly receiving. A few seconds passed while sweat rolled down his head before he finally straightened up and nodded, "I'm good."

"_**Excellent. Now, split your clones up into groups of two, and have them spread out across the training field. Then one of each pair must hold up their arm so that their hand is palm-out to their partner, channelling chakra into their palm while saying either "Shinra Tensei" or "Banshō Ten'in"."**_

Naruto delivered instructions before manifesting another clone, which quickly developed a more feral appearance, "So what else?"

The Kyūbi-clone grinned, **"I'm going to teach you another gravity jutsu for you to use, called the Chibaku Tensei. I must impress on you, Naruto, that you must not use this jutsu unless you are facing an exceptionally powerful opponent."**

"Why?"

"**Because this jutsu is what the Rikudō Sennin used to seal away the Jūbi's body after sealing its soul into himself. You see that?" **He pointed up at the moon, **"That is the Jūbi's body, sealed away for eternity. That is the effect of the Chibaku Tensei; it rips great chunks up from the ground and pulls them into the air, forming a large sphere."**

"Really? Cool…"

"**Are you drooling?"**

Naruto wiped his chin, "No!"

"**Uh huh, sure. Come on, let's get started!"**

-TRM-

When Sakura walked onto Training Ground #7 the next morning, it took a few seconds for her brain to register the devastation that met her eyes. Areas of the training field seemed to have ripped out of the ground, tumbled around a bit and then dropped back into the craters, a couple of trees were toppled and Naruto Uzumaki stood in the very centre of the destruction surrounded by clones, each of them with their arms outstretched as they intoned the same two jutsu chants over and over again.

After watching them for a long moment she screeched, "BAKA! What have you done to the field?"

Naruto dispelled the clones and stayed completely still for a few seconds before reopening his eyes and saying, "Why? I think it's an improvement on how boringly flat it looked when I got here."

"And when did you get here?"

Naruto checked his watch, "About seven hours ago."

Sakura stared at him, "YOU BAKA! You've been here all night?"

Naruto's eyes flashed irritably, "Shut up, Sakura. If I want to train all night, I can. Got a problem with that?"

Sakura scowled, "You'll jeopardize Sasuke-kun's ninja career, you baka!"

Naruto snorted, "Oh, like I'm worried about ruining the teme's career. And if you even think about trying to hit me I'm going to fire you through a tree and bust up your one _good_ arm too."

Sakura glared at him for a long moment before she snorted and sat down to await Kakashi.

Sasuke turned up fifteen minutes after Sakura, merely glancing around the area and grunting at the widespread destruction before sitting down against a tree and instantly going into his brooding.

Naruto looked between his team-mates for a long moment, then sat down and began practicing his focus for his new jutsu.

-TRM-

Kakashi was, once again, shocked when he arrived at the training ground. The devastation surrounding one Naruto Uzumaki was the first thing to register in his mind. Looking around he finally said, "Hello."

"YOU'RE LATE!" screeched Sakura, jumping up and wincing as she knocked her injured arm.

"I'm sorry. A black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around town until my luck had settled."

"LIAR!"

"Sakura…" sighed Naruto, noting to himself that he was emulating a certain pineapple-haired shadow-user as he ran a hand through his hair and stood up to walk over, "Cease your troublesome screaming."

-TRM-

Elsewhere in Konoha, Shikamaru suddenly got a feeling that somebody was ripping him off. Shaking his head to get rid of the troublesome feeling, he glanced back down at his shogi board in time to intercept Asuma's piece and mercilessly crush it with one of his own.

-TRM-

Kakashi smiled, "Alright then, your task is to try and get these bells," he held up two small bells, "off me through any means necessary. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't get the bells."

He glanced around at them with his single eye, "The test will now commence. Begin!"

-TRM-

Naruto was the first to move after Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke, "Guys, we need to…" but was interrupted by Sasuke.

"You two stay out of my way, I'm doing this alone."

Naruto tried again, "Seriously guys, the trick to this test…" but this time Sakura interrupted.

"What would you know, baka? Sasuke-kun is much smarter than you will ever be!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "He hasn't even unlocked his kekkei genkai yet, whereas I have full use of my Rinnegan. He's already boned no matter what he does, and if you guys refuse to listen when I actually know what the secret to our victory is, then fuck it. I was actually training all night because I knew what the trick was, therefore I am going to go it alone because I already have a strategy worked out which I am fairly sure will work."

Sasuke snorted, "No matter what stupid strategy a dobe like you has come up with, it is nothing compared to the power of an Uchiha. I will finish this myself and you two can just go back to the Academy and let me receive the training I am due as an Uchiha in peace!"

Naruto snorted, "You know, I actually thought over my own strategy all night, and while the real point of this test is teamwork, I can see that neither of you is willing to work as a team. Therefore," he formed a band of clones, "I'll work as a team with myself, and you guys can just go sit under a tree and cry because that's about as much as you are going to contribute."

Before either could shout at him again, he turned and stalked off.

-TRM-

Kakashi was sitting under a tree reading his book when he heard someone shout, "Banshō Ten'in!" and leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the ripple of gravity that would have ripped the bells right off his belt.

"_Is this one of Naruto's new techniques from his kekkei genkai? That was quick work on learning it!" _Kakashi thought as he leapt back as around twenty clones exploded out of the trees, their dōjutsu blazing as they ran forwards, coordinating with frightening ease.

Kakashi quickly realized he had a problem as a voice behind him intoned, "Shinra Tensei!" and he was flung through the air by a ripple of gravity. As he landed and rolled to a stop he heard more clones shouting the same thing and immediately decided that maybe he'd bitten off a bit more than he could chew with this genin. Deciding on the spot it might be a better idea to get out of the area and find the other two before taking on this particular one a second time, Kakashi created a shadow clone and substituted with it, activating his shunshin to carry himself out of danger before three more gravity attacks thudded into the ground where he had been sitting.

-TRM-

Kakashi shook his head as he looked down at the Uchiha, who was glaring up at him from where he was buried up to his neck in the ground. He had been expecting so much more from the last scion of what had once been the village's most powerful clan.

The Haruno girl had been an utter disappointment as well. She had succumbed to an _E_-rank genjutsu with an ease that sickened Kakashi. He had read her file, noting that she was a fan girl to the Uchiha (ninja files tended to be to the point and brutally honest, at least in most cases); but now it appeared that was slightly incorrect. This girl had obviously done _nothing_ at all in the Academy. She had excelled in theory work due to her intellect and her chakra control was incredible for her age, but Kakashi now knew (having run a quick scan on her chakra levels after she passed out from the genjutsu) that that was only because her chakra levels were barely higher than a civilian's. The girl was an utter disgrace to kunoichi, he thought with the barest hint of disgust, and she shouldn't even _be_ in the shinobi program.

Naruto Uzumaki, on the other hand…

Kakashi had in fact read all their files, and had to admit that his preconceptions concerning the trio were proving to be _very_ wrong. It had been slightly obvious that the Uchiha's and Uzumaki's files had been doctored heavily; the Uchiha's spoke of powerful jutsu and a nearly fully-unlocked Sharingan, while the reality was that the boy only knew about three jutsu over D-rank. The Uzumaki's was, in a word, atrocious. Whoever had written up the boy's file was obviously so biased they shouldn't be allowed a cleaning job in the archives, let alone an actual filing post!

It wasn't so much a service record as a list of insults. No mention of the boy's new kekkei genkai was made.

Kakashi had already resolved to ask the Hokage about dropping the Haruno from the shinobi program, sending the Uchiha back to the Academy and perhaps keeping the Uzumaki if just to learn about the new dōjutsu he possessed. Maybe he could persuade Kurenai to swap for her Hyūga girl. Kami knew the jōnin kunoichi despised fangirls and if he could assemble a full team of dōjutsu users… Kakashi fought down the urge to salivate, _oh the possibilities…_

He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard eight voices roar, "SHINRA TENSEI!" and was forced to do a substitution to avoid the attacks which collided where he had been standing, batting the log around like a reed in the wind.

Kakashi didn't realize that Naruto was communing with the Kyūbi which, being centuries old and practically a force of nature on its own, was also a master strategist. As such, when he substituted he ended up putting himself right into the trap that the jinchūriki had set up with his tenant's assistance.

He had just landed behind a tree when he heard a voice behind him say, "Banshō Ten'in," and felt the bells be ripped off his belt.

Whirling around, he came face-to-face with a Naruto that he immediately knew to be the original, just in time to see him raise his palm, smirk and utter, "Shinra… Tensei."

Kakashi was smashed into the tree trunk by the brunt of the blow. He slid to the foot of it and groaned, "Ow… that jutsu hurts."

Naruto smirked, rubbing his arms as he held up the bells, "Tell me about it. Kyūbi says I should get used to the twinges after a while, but the constant bursts of chakra going through my arms hurt like hell."

Kakashi sighed, "Well, you made it. Help me grab those two will you?"

-TRM-

They dug Sasuke out of the ground and dragged him and Sakura to the stump, where Kakashi tied both of them to it.

"I knew the real purpose of the test all along," said Sasuke, smirking despite being tied to a stump, "It was obviously going to be teamwork, wasn't it? I read your file, after all."

Kakashi crouched in front of the Uchiha, "And how did you get hold of that? Ninja files are meant to be classified material!"

Sasuke snorted, "Classified? Ha! Nothing is out of your reach when you are an Uchiha! The idiot on your team must not have known that, or he wouldn't have got his stupid self killed!"

Naruto, watching quietly, noticed that Kakashi's apathetic façade was cracking. Evidently he sorely wanted to kill the genin, "I am going to disregard that slight on Obito Uchiha's memory because reacting as I want to would kill you. As it is, not only am I going to fail the two of you, I'm recommending both of you have your chakra sealed and are dropped from the shinobi program."

Sasuke's lip curled, "You can't do that to me! I'm an Uchiha!"

Naruto suddenly concentrated on Sasuke, prompting the Uchiha to glare at him, "Impressed, dobe?"

Naruto did not rise to the bait, instead looking down and seeming to draw in on himself for a minute, _"What are you talking about, Kyūbi?"_

"_**He's a girl, kit! The Uchiha's a girl! I can smell it!"**_

"_Ummm, Kyūbi? I think you might be losing it, locked up in my head. He looks very much male to me."_

"_**I'm serious, kit! Here, I'll show you another one of your Rinnegan techniques. Put your hand on his forehead!"**_

Naruto took a step forwards and clamped his hand down on Sasuke's forehead. The Uchiha struggled, "Hey, what are you doing, dobe? Get off!"

"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate."

A few seconds passed while Naruto's hand shone light blue, before Kakashi suddenly noticed that lines of chakra were beginning to appear all across the Uchiha's body. Finally there was a muffled snapping noise and Sasuke howled with pain before going completely limp.

Drawing heaving breaths, Sasuke winced at a suddenly renewed amount of pressure on his chest before he spoke, "What the hell'd you…" before stopping at the sound of his own voice.

Kakashi's single eye widened comically as he beheld his suddenly least favourite genin. Sasuke had changed a lot. He… she… suddenly had longer black hair than it previously had been, almost waist-length, though it still stuck up at the back like a duck's behind. Her black eyes were now slanted slightly and looked distinctly more feminine, while a certain amount of bulging in the ropes over her front showed that other things had developed as well.

Naruto went pale for a moment before turning back to his usual shade and grinning, "Ah, so I didn't actually kiss a guy after all!"

Sasuke looked down at herself for a long moment before she gave a strangled shriek and wailed, "WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?"

Kakashi gaped at the boy-turned-girl as well before he suddenly palmed his mask and groaned, "Minato-sensei… you really _were_ bat-shit-insane towards the end there, weren't you?"

Naruto frowned, "Who is Minato? Why was he bat-shit-insane, sensei?"

Kakashi shook his head, "I'll tell you later, Naruto. Come on, we're going to the Hokage. Untie those two and let's move!"

He tossed a kunai across at Naruto, who threw it back and simply pointed one hand at each of the genin, "Banshō Ten'in!"

The ropes snapped as the two genin were pulled in his direction. Flipping Sakura over his shoulder in a fireman's lift, Naruto waited for Kakashi to grab Sasuke before the four of them set off for the Hokage's Tower.

-TRM-

Sakura woke up halfway there. Quickly realizing where she was and what was going on, she started punching Naruto in the back in an attempt to make him let her go. Naruto finally stopped and said, "Sakura? You really might not want to annoy me, because I have you in the perfect position to goose you here."

Sakura hissed angrily at him between her gritted teeth, "Just try it, you pervert!" and resumed trying to break his spine and paralyze him from the waist down.

Naruto sighed, "Suit yourself." He shifted his grip on her legs a little, raised his left hand above his head, curled in all but his middle and index fingers… and jabbed sharply at the pinkette's vulnerable hindquarters.

Kakashi watched and tried not to snigger as the Haruno thrashed around and began screaming about Naruto being a pervert. The blond might be his sensei's child, but Kakashi could actually see himself and the boy's mother in the diminutive boy. Actually, he thought, as he reaffirmed his grip on the newly-female Uchiha's shoulder and resumed his walk towards the Hokage's Tower, Naruto seemed more like Obito than him, with his devotion to his team-mates (though Kakashi couldn't really blame Naruto for being lacking in that regard) and his drive to succeed.

-TRM-

If he were asked, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, could probably attribute most of the headaches he'd suffered since he resumed his position to being either directly or indirectly associated with his adoptive grandson, Naruto Uzumaki.

Therefore, when Kakashi Hatake walked through his office door, followed by Naruto, Sarutobi simply took one look at what his surrogate grandson was carrying and reached for the bottles of headache medicine and sake in his desk drawer.

"So let me get this straight," said Sarutobi after a long time, "Naruto not only succeeded in passing the infamous bell test _alone _and using only about three or four techniques, but he also saw through some kind of genjutsu on Sasuke here and then absorbed it, revealing him to really be a girl?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes; that is an excellent summary."

"And you also want to turn the Uchiha over to Inoichi Yamanaka to find out who's been giving him restricted material?"

Kakashi nodded again, "Yes. I believe his exact words were "Classified? Ha! Nothing is out of your reach when you are an Uchiha!" He knew a lot about me and my old team, which I would add was very highly classified."

Sarutobi nodded before turning to one of the ANBU, "Find Inoichi Yamanaka and have him come here at once to collect the Uchiha for interrogation, please."

The ANBU nodded and disappeared. Sarutobi, expecting a complaint from Sasuke, turned to face the no-longer-male.

Sasuke was very still, staring straight ahead and completely silent. Sarutobi raised his eyebrows at Kakashi, who nodded and punched the Uchiha in the back of the head.

"OW! How dare you lay a hand on me, an elite Uchiha?"

Naruto spoke up, "You went into shock; it wasn't his choice, now shut up."

Sasuke turned on the boy, "Why don't you shut up, dobe?"

Naruto simply snorted and turned away, slumping back down in his chair with a bored expression on his face.

Kakashi noticed Sakura was becoming restless, "Sakura, go home. Get some rest."

The pinkette gave Naruto one last glare before exiting the office.

"Ano, why was she glaring at you, Naruto?"

"I goosed her on the way here."

"Ah."

-TRM-

Inoichi Yamanaka came by to pick up Sasuke and take him off to the T&I Division fifteen minutes later, before Kakashi suddenly addressed Sarutobi, "That reminds me, is it possible for me to either have Sakura transferred or drop her from the program without affecting the other two? I would like to keep Naruto; his new dōjutsu, what did you call it?"

"The Rinnegan!"

"…His Rinnegan would be invaluable. From the few techniques I've seen, it's obvious that that particular kekkei genkai is extremely powerful. What other techniques are there, Naruto?"

"Aside from the… you know what, Kyūbi can probably answer these better than me, hang on I'll see if he's awake."

He shut his eyes and seemed to enter a meditative state. A second passed before his eyes opened again, revealing red eyes with slit pupils, **"Yeah?"**

Kakashi was on his feet before he could react, reaching for a kunai as he cautiously watched the beast that had taken over his prospective student. Kyūbi-Naruto raised his hands, **"Hey, I'm not going to eat anybody. Naruto can immediately retake control if I start attacking people. I'm just here because as the progenitor of all dōjutsu, even that Sharingan you keep hidden away, I'm the best person to consult about the Rinnegan's powers."**

Kakashi glanced across at Sarutobi, who gestured for him to retake his seat. As soon as the cycloptic jōnin had returned to his chair, Kyūbi-Naruto stood and began to pace, **"So, you want to know about the Rinnegan's powers… Alright. Aside from being able to use all five nature transformations as well as the little-known Yin-Yang Release, thus allowing the user to literally perform any jutsu they wish to, along with the ability to see chakra as we saw earlier, the Rinnegan permits its user to use the six paths techniques. Three of the techniques you have already seen, two of which and a third Naruto can currently perform on his own. Those three he can perform are the Shinra Tensei, the Banshō Ten'in, and the Chibaku Tensei, usable through the Deva Path. The fourth that you know of is the chakra absorption ability that he used to dispel the genjutsu on the Uchiha. That last one is usable through the Preta Path."**

Sarutobi and Kakashi nodded, before the Hokage said, "So there is the Deva Path, the Preta Path, what others are there?"

Kyūbi-Naruto leaned against the wall before continuing, **"The next path I will talk about is the Animal Path. Through the Rinnegan, Naruto may summon a number of beasts to fight with him in combat. After I have taught him how to use them, I will be sure to request that he give you a demonstration of the beasts he can summon, if you like."**

At the Hokage's nod, he continued once more, **"The fourth path is the Human Path. Through this path the user, by simply placing their hand atop a victim's head, may extract any information or secret the victim hides. The only drawback is it can only really be used on targets that you don't mind losing, as removal of the hand will also suck the victim's soul out."**

Kakashi gave a dry laugh, "That'd save the T&I Division some time since they'd only have to dispose of the body!"

Kyūbi-Naruto nodded, **"Quite. Now, the Asura Path. This path has the most passive abilities of the lot. Naruto will be able to take an obscene amount of damage from attackers; his strength, speed and chakra levels, already very high because of me, will be improved; however Naruto will need to learn to use this power properly. Improper use of the boosts inherent with this path's synchronization with his body will not only kill him, but everybody in the vicinity as well. I believe there is a place in Konoha called "The Forest of Death". I believe this would be a most suitable location for Naruto to use this path's abilities."**

Sarutobi and Kakashi looked at each other before Sarutobi spoke, "Maybe after the Chūnin Exams, if he competes and is promoted. And the final path?"

Kyūbi-Naruto scratched the back of his neck with one hand, before wincing and looking at his bloody claws, **"Dammit, I didn't realize I couldn't do that in Naruto's body. Oh well… the final path is called the Naraka Path. Through the use of this path, Naruto may be able to summon the Outer Path, which serves two purposes: interrogation and restoration. Using this path, Naruto need only catch hold of an enemy for the Outer Path to appear. After they have been interrogated, they will be judged by the Outer Path. If they have told the truth, they will be spared, though suffering from extreme exhaustion for some time afterwards is natural. If they have lied, or refused to answer, their life force will be torn from them and they will die. I don't know yet how the restoration ability will factor in, but I do know this. Through a technique unique to the Outer Path, Naruto may be able to release his own life force to people around him who have recently died and thus allow their souls to return to their mortal bodies. That's all I know. Ridiculous I know, considering I was the original part of the Jūbi that bestowed the ability on the Rikudō Sennin, but hey, I can't know everything, even if I am the Kyūbi!"**

Sarutobi's and Kakashi's heads were spinning with this massive amount of information they were being given. Kakashi finally blurted, "Why are you telling us all of this?"

Kyūbi-Naruto gave him a wry grin, **"If you people are going to trust me again, nothing can be concealed or hidden from you. After all, the only reason I attacked Konoha anyway was because I had a bad experience with one of your Uchiha, tracked him back here and got attacked by your shinobi. I thought they were sheltering him so I… over-reacted… a little."**

Both men sweat-dropped, "A little? More like a lot!"

Kyūbi-Naruto pouted, which was somehow scarier than hell on the feral visage of Konoha's #1 Unpredictable Knucklehead Ninja, **"Alright, alright, don't judge me! Well anyway, I'm hungry and none of us got any bento boxes, so I'm going to let the kit take back over and we can go for ramen! I love ramen!"**

This last sentence was said with a look of hunger that was somehow even more chilling than the pout. Kakashi couldn't help but shiver as he stood up and said goodbye to the Hokage, deciding to go and think over what to do about the team by the monument to fallen ninja.

Naruto, meanwhile, retook control of his mind and headed off for some ramen.

Sarutobi sat back in his chair for a long moment before sighing, standing up and turning to look out of his window.

-TRM-

Inside the T&I Division, Inoichi Yamanaka was swimming around inside the Uchiha's head. It was an eerie experience, as there were shadows everywhere which seemed to move about when he wasn't looking directly at them.

He had just been moving through an area which was littered with cracks in the walls (no doubt the remnants of the powerful genjutsu he/she had been placed under by Itachi Uchiha the night of the Uchiha massacre) and finally reached the boy-turned-girl's brain. To his surprise, it was surrounded by a large amount of seal arrays.

Inoichi moved forwards, inspecting one of the arrays. It was loose, almost like a ribbon, draped around the Uchiha's brain. Inoichi hesitantly reached out and pressed a single finger to the line of characters before him.

Almost instantly, there was a reaction. The arrays glowed scarlet one after another before constricting around the Uchiha's mind.

Inoichi immediately ended the jutsu. Ibiki, standing beside his body outside, turned around as Inoichi drew breath, "What?"

Inoichi turned startled eyes on his co-worker, "There's some kind of seal on his mind, it activated when I got close; I couldn't stop it!"

The Uchiha verified this with a piercing scream. Almost instantly, the door flew back and Anko Mitarashi ran in, "What's going on?"

Raising his voice over the Uchiha's continued screaming, Ibiki quickly filled the woman in. As soon as he was done, the three of them watched cautiously as the boy-turned girl became totally limp, her head hanging.

Sasuke Uchiha drew a shaky breath, before raising her head and regarding the three people in front of her, "Where am I? How did I get here?" She suddenly smiled courteously at them, "Hello. Could one of you direct me to my master?"

"Your… master?" said Anko with a stupefied expression on her face.

Sasuke nodded, the courteous smile still on her face, "Yes, my master, Naruto Uzumaki. Can one of you take me to him so that I can take my place at his side as his loyal servant?"

The three adults gaped at the young clan heir(ess?) for a long moment before Anko suddenly cackled, "Oh this is _rich_!"

Ibiki palmed his face as his second-in-command departed, cackling to herself, before he walked over to the Uchiha and pulled her up. He needed to see the Hokage.

-TRM-

When Naruto was escorted into the Hokage's office for the third time in as many days, the first person he saw was Sasuke, still in full female mode. What he was not expecting however, was for the Uchiha to drop to her knees on seeing him and mutter something about "proper respect for Naruto-sama".

As Anko started sniggering at the look on Naruto's face, Ibiki turned to Sarutobi, "So you see, Hokage-sama, for some reason the Uchiha now believes himself… herself… to be Naruto's slave."

Naruto gaped, "Wait, what?"

Anko cackled, "Isn't it obvious, gaki? That girl there," she pointed at the still-kneeling Uchiha on the floor before Naruto, "thinks you're her master!"

Naruto's mouth opened and closed a few times before he suddenly whimpered and passed out on the floor. Sasuke raised her head and peered at him, "Master?"

Sarutobi ran a hand over his face for a moment before saying, "Anko-chan, would you mind taking Naruto home? Take Sas… I guess we need to find you a new name now… but let's think on that later… with you."

Anko nodded, picking up the unconscious blond and slinging him over her shoulder before beckoning to Sasuke, "Come on, you."

-TRM-

Naruto woke up the next morning hoping it had all been a dream. After all, there was no way that he had not only revealed Sasuke Uchiha to in fact be a girl, but she had also somehow decided he was her master, was there?

Noting a heavy weight on his side, he looked down. Though the hair was longer than he remembered it, there was no mistaking the distinctive way it stuck up at the back.

"_Oh my god…" _Naruto thought in horror, hearing the Kyūbi begin laughing hysterically in the back of his mind, _"It wasn't a dream!"_

Sasuke raised 'her' head, blinking sleepily up at him from under her thick lashes, "Master?"

Naruto jumped out of bed, Sasuke blinking at him, "Gotta get up, gotta find Kakashi-sensei and see what he wants to do about the team!"

Sasuke stood up, smiling as well, "I'll come with you!"

Naruto swallowed, "A-Alright."

-TRM-

Kakashi met them halfway to the Hokage's Tower. He threw a large bag to Sasuke, "Here, Sasuke, you need to go and get new clothes which fit you, seeing as those obviously don't. Naruto, I would like to inform you that you are hereby pronounced as a fully-fledged genin. Sakura is being dropped from the shinobi program since she is not shinobi material at all and Sasuke here…"

Naruto sighed, he _really_ didn't want to do this but he didn't have a choice, "Is she staying? I take it you know about what happened yesterday afternoon?"

The man nodded, "Yup, but the Hokage gave me special permission to run a two-man team, seeing as she's now too interested in you to be concerned with making herself seem superior to everybody."

Sasuke scratched the back of her head, "Yeah… I'm kinda sorry about that."

Kakashi smirked, "I think you should punish her, Naruto!"

Naruto and Sasuke blinked in almost-perfect synchronization before both said, "Sorry?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, you must punish your servant, for she is a bad girl!"

Naruto stared at the cycloptic jōnin for a long moment before he said, "Are you high?"

Kakashi's eyebrow twitched, "No. Now go and get her," he pointed at Sasuke, "some new clothing. By the way, your new name is Aiko, Sasuke.

Sasuke, now Aiko, nodded. "And the two of you are expected at the Hokage Tower to get your first missions at ten o'clock. I'm giving the two of you the opportunity to get all the stuff you need before then, already?"

The two genin nodded, "Got it!" and shot off.

Kakashi broke down in sniggers before turning to Anko as she walked up to him, "You were right, their reactions were hilarious."

Anko smirked, "Told you. Now I've got to get back to the T&I Division before Ibiki bitches me out over leaving for so long. Bye!" She ran off.

Kakashi decided to wander around the village for a while and read his book before meeting his two new genin.

-TRM-

Naruto and Aiko spent the next hour finding new clothes for the girl, as well as some clothes for Naruto when Aiko decided to insist on him wearing something other than orange. Her reasoning turned out to be that as his servant, it was her job to keep him alive, and doing that included making sure he was wearing clothes that wouldn't get him spotted very easily when on missions. Therefore it only took her flashing the Uchiha symbol on her new black jacket to get them into one of the more pricy clothes shops, and when she threatened to have one of the clerks fired after he practically spat on Naruto and told him to get out. When he protested that they could refuse service to anyone they wished, she simply gave him a sweet smile and pointed out that she would be happy to take her custom elsewhere if they did not comply. As this particular clothes shop prided itself on serving (or rather, having served at one point) the most prominent clan in Konoha, such a loss of face would ruin their image in the eyes of the people.

After that, they were only too happy to let Naruto purchase his wares there. The fact that Aiko was standing over the clerk playing with a kunai didn't hurt either.

Finally, Naruto walked out of the shop carrying a large amount of new clothes in bags and clad in one of his new jumpsuits. Aiko, already getting into her role as a female (though the seal _may_ have had something to do with that, Naruto didn't know), had understood when Naruto had requested that the jumpsuit had some orange on it.

He explained to her that the reason he wore orange stemmed back to his childhood. An old man (apparently, _not_ the Hokage) had bought him the orange jumpsuit so that he would always be able to find him in the orphanage. After the man had died, Naruto had worn orange ever since in order to remember him.

Therefore he now walked out of the store wearing a black jumpsuit with dark orange bands around the ends of the sleeves and legs. The clerk had looked like he was trying to suppress an impending aneurysm when Aiko had politely "suggested" that he bid Naruto a good day.

Now the pair walked down the street until they came to a weapon shop. Naruto opened the door and glanced inside, noting a bored-looking girl with brown hair pulled up into buns leaning on the counter reading a manga.

Shutting the door again he turned to Aiko, "What do you think? Is it worth learning to use weapons other than kunai and shuriken?"

Aiko gave him a plain look, "It's your choice, Naruto-sama."

The girl's voice floated through the door, "Are you two going to stand out there all day, or are you going to come in and buy something?"

The two genin entered to see the girl looking critically across at them, "Yes?"

Aiko took charge as Naruto didn't seem to be willing to speak, "Hello, we'd like two sets of kunai and shuriken, four folding windmill shuriken and two fūma shuriken each, about six sealing scrolls, four rolls of ninja wire… I think that should do it."

The girl raised an eyebrow, "Preparing for a war, are you?"

Aiko laughed, "Nope, but we did just graduate and I think it'd be suitable if Naruto-sama there and I had everything we might need when we need it rather than needing it and not having it."

The girl nodded approvingly before yawning, her manga still held between finger and thumb as she rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Long day?" asked Aiko conversationally as she followed the brunette towards a shelf.

"Yeah," said the girl, "My sensei and one of my team-mates are both fitness nuts, they insist on me and my other team-mate getting up before sunrise to train with them. The only reason I'm not there right now is because my father needed me to mind the shop."

Aiko winced, "Ouch."

The girl nodded, "Tell me about it. _And _they insist that we keep training until past nightfall. Sometimes I wonder how I haven't dropped dead from exhaustion yet."

Aiko smirked, "Yeah. Naruto-sama is the same; tons of energy for some reason."

The brunette laughed, "And is he a training nut too?"

Aiko shrugged, "I don't know. We haven't started training yet. I _do_ know he beat Kakashi-sensei with about three jutsu though…"

The girl raised an eyebrow, "Kakashi? As in my sensei's eternal rival Kakashi Hatake?"

Aiko shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

The girl smiled, holding out a hand, "Tenten Takeshi, nice to meet you."

Aiko took the hand and shook, "Aiko Uchiha, likewise."

The two girls shook before Aiko turned to Naruto, "Tenten, this is Naruto Uzumaki, my master."

Tenten gave her new girl friend a quizzical look, "Master?"

Aiko nodded, "Yes. I used to be the current rookie of the year, Sasuke Uchiha, but there was some kind of accident involving a seal and I ended up a girl and utterly devoted to my master here."

Naruto nodded and quickly explained the whole story to Tenten before asking her not to tell anybody. The brunette took one look at the eyes containing sets of rings around the pupils and nodded once.

Aiko checked her watch, "Naruto-sama, we should go. We need to meet Kakashi-sensei for our first missions!"

Tenten frowned, "Alright, I'll quickly gather everything up and open you up a tab. Make sure you pay at a later date though, or my father will use you to test his new kunai!"

Naruto tugged his frog wallet from his belt, causing the two girls to giggle as he opened "Gama-chan" and fished out a _very_ thick roll of ryō notes.

Tenten deftly flipped through the roll, extracted the notes she needed, and packed their purchases into bags for them, "Come back soon, Naruto-kun! Aiko-chan!"

"Will do!" they chorused before sprinting out of the store, Naruto creating a horde of clones to carry their shopping home.

-TRM-

Kakashi met them outside the Hokage's office as the two genin ran up to him, "Sorry we're late! We were buying new clothes and weapons."

Kakashi nodded, "So I see. Nice look, Naruto."

Naruto smirked, "Thanks. Let's go!"

They entered the room to see Sarutobi sitting behind his desk with Iruka standing behind him. The scarred chūnin grinned at Naruto, "Hey Naruto!"

Naruto grinned at his Academy teacher, "Hey, Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka looked around, "Where are Sasuke and Sakura? I was under the impression that you were on a team with them! And who is she?"

Naruto nodded at the girl standing beside him, "There's Sasuke, and Sakura got dropped from the shinobi program."

At Iruka's puzzled expression he shrugged, "I'll explain over ramen sometime, ok?"

Iruka nodded, "Tonight?"

Naruto nodded happily, "That works!"

The Hokage coughed, drawing all their attention before holding out a piece of paper to Naruto, who was closest, "This should be a good starting mission for the three of you, pulling weeds in the hospital's herb garden."

"Um," said Naruto, looking down, "Can we have another one? The hospital isn't that fond of me for some reason."

"Did you prank them at some point?" asked Iruka.

Naruto looked up with an insulted expression, "What do you take me for? There are sick and injured people in the hospital! I may like pranks but I do have morals!"

"Okay…" said the Hokage, rummaging through the pile and pulling another one, "How about this? Walking the dogs at the Inuzuka kennels?"

"Dogs don't like foxes and I like not having teeth marks in my butt."

"Hmm… How about this? Picking up …" but he was interrupted by a shrill scream from outside.

"TORA! TORA'S ESCAPED AGAIN!"

The Hokage face-palmed before sighing and looking at the three genin, "It's all yours."

Naruto grinned, "Tora, eh? What is he, a tiger?"

Iruka chuckled, "Not exactly…"

-TRM-

Fifteen minutes later, Tora was in the woods sniffing around and relishing the freedom he had gained in escaping the fiendish beast that called herself his owner again when he heard a human voice behind him, "Banshō Ten'in!" and he was suddenly bowled off his feet by nothing at all and sent tumbling towards the human who had caught him.

Landing in the human's arms, Tora immediately realized he'd been captured and decided to show the human his displeasure. His claws unsheathing with a loud hiss, Tora took a swipe, waited for the pained human to release him and then made a run for a second figure, which looked like it could protect him.

Naruto watched with his hand covering his nose as the demon creature called Tora leapt into Aiko's arms and nuzzled her face. "Careful, Aiko-chan, he's evil."

Aiko giggled as the cat nuzzled her, his whiskers tickling her cheeks, "He's not evil, he's cute."

Kakashi appeared at that moment, took one look at the cat in Aiko's arms and said, "Well done, you two. Tora has been recaptured."

-TRM-

Back in the Hokage Tower, the Fire Lord's wife was getting edgy. Sarutobi had repeatedly assured her that the team he had set to finding her cat was exceptionally skilled (a partial lie, given that they had just graduated, but Naruto's skill with the few Rinnegan techniques he already knew would probably help capture the cat), but she was still panicking slightly.

Finally, the door opened and Kakashi walked in, followed by his two genin. "Tora!" screamed the Fire Lord's wife, rushing towards Aiko.

Tora clawed his way over Aiko's shoulder and hissed at his owner, who stopped and scowled before rounding on Sarutobi, "How dare they turn my cat against me!"

Aiko scowled, "I didn't turn your cat against you! I think he just likes me!"

The woman huffed, "Nonsense. He's my cat!" She plucked the feline in question off Aiko's shoulder and hugged him close, "Aren't you, my little tiger? Yes you are, yes you are!"

Naruto and Aiko both sweat-dropped before Aiko stepped forwards and deftly extricated the cat from the woman's arms, "Don't hug him so hard, you'll hurt him!"

The woman scowled, reaching for her cat, but Aiko stepped out of range, "Listen, this is how you give a cat attention!" She raised two fingers and scratched behind the cat's ear. Tora began to purr.

"Then you stroke along his back with long, smooth, even strokes…" Aiko ran her hand across Tora's back, causing his purring to get louder.

After a minute she held out the cat in her arms to his owner, "You try."

The cat tentatively stepped into his owner's arms. They twitched sharply as she resisted the urge to hug him; instead they stayed still as Tora settled down. "Scratch behind his ears," murmured Aiko.

The Fire Lord's wife's hand shifted, two fingers outstretching and twitching behind the cat's ears. Tora began to purr again.

"Now, long smooth strokes down his back…" Aiko whispered quietly, taking one of the woman's wrists in her hand and gently lifting it onto the cat's head before slowly guiding it down the cat's back to the base of his tail. Lifting it back to his head, she repeated the movement a second time before letting go. The movement didn't cease. Tora's purring grew louder once again.

The Fire Lord's wife finally smiled, thanked Aiko and left after placing a small bag of money (evidently the payment for the mission) on the Hokage's desk.

Aiko turned to face Naruto and found him gaping at her, "What?"

"How did you know how to treat the cat?"

Aiko smiled, "My mother had a cat before the… incident…, but I'm not sure what happened to it afterwards. I used to spend days playing with him when I wasn't training."

Naruto was, surprisingly, tactful enough to leave it at that.

Aiko frowned, "That's funny. It's like I can't pull up those memories."

Sarutobi nodded, "Emotional repression of the traumatic memories, it generally happens in that kind of situation."

Aiko shook her head, her waist-length hair swinging slightly, "No, it doesn't feel like I repressed them. It feels like there's something blocking my memory of the event."

Kakashi looked down at her, "Sounds like a memory seal. Don't mess around with it for a while, Inoichi Yamanaka is coming to see you next week to see how you're adapting to the situation, he'll have a look at the seal if you want."

Aiko nodded, "Alright then. Now, are there any more missions to be done or are we clear for the night?"

Sarutobi turned to Iruka, who shook his head, "Sorry Naruto, Sasuke, there aren't any more missions. In fact, I think you just topped the record list for fastest Tora capture, and you even managed to get him to stop running away."

Naruto smirked, "Oh well. Coming then, Iruka-sensei? You did say we'd have ramen tonight!"

Iruka sighed, putting down his clipboard, "Alright, Naruto. Let's go."

He left, followed by the boy and girl.

-TRM-

"So," said Iruka an hour later, "That's how Sasuke ended up a girl, right?"

Naruto nodded, polishing off his eighteenth bowl of ramen, "Yeah. And her name is Aiko, not Sasuke."

Sasuke leaned over from Naruto's other side to look at the chūnin, "Yes, Naruto-sama is correct."

Ayame, standing behind the counter and frowning, repeated, "Naruto-sama? Why is she calling you master, Naruto-kun?"

"Well you see, Ayame-nee-chan, there was an accident with some fūinjutsu seal or other and as a result Aiko-chan is sort of bound to me as a servant. It's kinda complicated."

Ayame nodded, before adopting a threatening expression and waving her ladle, "Treat her well, Naruto-kun. If I hear otherwise, I'm going to make sure you can't eat ramen for a month!"

Iruka covered his mouth with his hands as Naruto's face melted into an utterly horrified expression at being forced to not eat Ichiraku ramen for a month. Aiko took one look at his face and dissolved into giggles as well.

Ayame's stern expression finally cracked and she laughed, "It's ok, Naruto-kun. Just make sure you _do_ treat her well, alright?" Meekly, Naruto nodded. Ayame-nee-chan was very scary when she wanted to be.

Gulping, Naruto stood up and pulled out his frog wallet and started leafing through ryō notes.

Iruka and Ayame cast each other shocked looks; never before had Naruto paid for his ramen when there was somebody else around to pick up the tab, "Well, we should be going. Get up early for training and all that. Come on, Aiko-chan, back to the flat."

Aiko smiled slightly as she stood up, "Naruto-sama, you do realize I own the Uchiha compound… right?"

Naruto gave her a blank look, "Are you sure?"

Aiko gave her master a happy smile, "Of course, Naruto-sama."

Naruto grinned broadly before forming a seal. Turning to the six clones that appeared (and wincing as he saw himself from half a dozen different angles), he said, "Go back to my place, pack everything up and take it to the Uchiha compound. Actually…" He made another six clones and repeated his orders.

"Boss," said one clone, "What should we do with the ramen?"

Naruto was about to say to bring it along when Aiko spoke up, "You should really eat other things besides ramen. It'll help you get bigger!"

Naruto grumbled, before turning to the clones with a screwed-up expression as though there was a bad taste in his mouth, "Eat the ramen. It's all yours. Call it your reward for a good job well done, but you can only eat it after you finish moving everything across to the compound!"

The twelve clones nodded and shot off.

Naruto smirked as he set down the necessary money on the counter before offering an arm to Aiko in a _very_ surprising act of chivalry. Aiko smiled before taking it and allowing Naruto to escort her from the ramen bar.

Iruka and Ayame stayed sitting there staring stupidly at the flaps covering the doorway for a long moment before they both said, "What the hell just happened?"


	2. The Two Dōjutsu

The Rinnegan Maelstrom

Chapter Two: The Two Dōjutsu

**(A/N: …and finally, the chapter you've all been waiting for… the update to The Rinnegan Maelstrom! I've been getting a lot of reviews lately asking if the next chapter will reveal how the seal on Aiko came to be. Now that I post this chapter, I will say that it… doesn't. Sorry about that. Enjoy the chapter.)**

**(A/N: Ha! April Fools! The chapter actually DOES explain how Aiko came to be in her current state, as well as a number of other interesting revelations. I'll see you all at the end of the chapter, Leonineus OUT!)**

The next morning, Naruto woke up to find Aiko once again draped over him. He couldn't understand why the girl liked to sleep on top of him, but he didn't really mind since it wasn't hurting either of them.

What he didn't particularly like was when Kakashi appeared at the window and said hello, sitting on the sill and reading his little orange book. Grabbing a kunai from the bedside table, Naruto flung it at Kakashi, who ducked and caught the kunai while still looking at his book, "You should be more careful with these things, Naruto."

Naruto scowled, "Get out of the window, I need to change."

As he gently pushed Aiko off him, slipped out of the bed and walked over to the closet, Kakashi said, "Because you're only a two-person team, you two are going to need a lot more training than the other genin teams."

"That suits me."

"Well let's see how well you do when exposed to my "eternal rival"."

"Your eternal rival?"

"Yes, a jōnin by the name of Maito Gai. You might have seen him around the village; tall guy, black bowl-cut, green jumpsuit, orange legwarmers and a really scary attitude?"

Naruto shuddered, recalling seeing the man in question on numerous occasions. He was the only one except for Iruka to ever catch Naruto when he was on the run following a prank, though only once or twice, and was one of the reasons why Naruto always tried to make himself faster as the man actually scared the crap out of him with his talk of "the flames of youth".

"Ah," said Kakashi, noticing Naruto's reaction, "I see you know him."

Naruto nodded, "Yes… he scared the heck out of me last time I saw him."

Kakashi gave him an eye-smile, "Well then, work on your taijutsu and everything to the best of your ability and I won't have to put you under his care to get stronger. I _do_ think that you would benefit from learning their style, however. It's called the Strong Fist and relies on dealing massive damage to the opponent. Since you're more of a damage-dealer than Aiko, who seems more suited to ninjutsu and a slightly more subtle taijutsu style, it would suit you."

Naruto gave him a suspicious look, "Not that I'm scared of much, because I don't like feeling like I am scared of things, but exactly how long would I have to spend in the guy's company in order to learn this "Strong Fist"?"

Kakashi shrugged, "I don't know. Anywhere from four weeks to a couple of months, depending on how many clones you use."

He watched Naruto's shoulders slump at the prospect of spending a minimum of four weeks with the terrifying Maito Gai, and decided to change the subject, "Wakey wakey, Aiko-chan!"

Before Naruto could stop him, he flipped the kunai over in his hand and threw it blunt end-first at Aiko.

Aiko woke with a loud yelp of pain as the kunai bounced off her forehead. When she saw Kakashi, she cursed and pulled the blankets up to cover her entire body.

Kakashi tutted, "Such unladylike words, Aiko-chan!"

Naruto blinked as a torrent of curse words poured forth from his female team-mate, directed at their masked sensei, before wisely deciding to vacate the room and go for a shower before Aiko started trying to kill their sensei, lack of clothing or not.

-TRM-

Once both of them had showered and dressed, they met on Training Ground #7 as usual, Aiko glowering at Kakashi the whole time.

The first thing he did was start them on the tree walking exercise to get their chakra control up to par.

"By learning how to channel chakra through your feet in a steady amount so that you can adhere to the tree," he explained, "You can prove that you can master any jutsu, since the feet are the hardest part of your body to channel chakra through since they are the furthest extremity from your coils."

Naruto grinned, "Awesome!" and ran directly at a tree.

Aiko sweat-dropped as she saw her master run headlong into the tree, "Naruto-sama… you're meant to step up onto the trunk, not try and climb up with your face."

"I know…" said Naruto from where he was lying on his back at the foot of the tree, "I meant to do that…"

Aiko shook her head at her master's slight idiocy before walking over to a tree and placing one foot against the trunk.

-TRM-

That evening, after the two of them had finished training and returned to the Uchiha district for the night, Naruto was lying on his futon when Aiko entered, "Naruto-sama?"

"Yes, Aiko-chan?"

"There is something I need to show you."

Naruto got off his futon and followed her out of the room.

Aiko led him to the Naka Shrine, stopping at the doorway, "The night of the massacre, Itachi told me to come here. Under the seventh tatami mat from the far right, according to him, was the Uchiha clan's hidden meeting place."

They took their shoes off and progressed inside the shrine. Aiko knelt beside the tatami mat she had indicated and dug her fingers under the edge, pulling it up and out, revealing stairs beneath it.

"Go on," she murmured, gesturing to him.

Naruto stepped down into the chamber, soon seeing a stone tablet on the other side of the room.

Aiko stepped down next to him, lighting the torches on the walls with a weak fire jutsu, "This is the place. The Uchiha's secret meeting place."

She pointed at the tablet, "There it is…"

Naruto walked over to it and crouched down, reading the first line of kanji.

"This is the story of the Sage of Six Paths and the Ten-Tailed Beast…"

-TRM-

An hour later, they were back in the Uchiha compound.

Naruto had become very pensive once he read the part about the Sharingan being able to control the Kyūbi, and had resolved to tell Aiko about it the next chance he got.

-TRM-

A week later, Aiko was seated in front of the Hokage's desk while Inoichi Yamanaka stood in front of her with one hand resting on her forehead and his eyes closed.

"You were right," he finally said, his eyes opening as he stepped away from the dark-haired girl, "It is a memory seal. It's the oddest thing; it looks like it's blocking some of her chakra pathways as well."

Sarutobi frowned, "Are you sure?"

Inoichi nodded, "Yes. The seal has connections in her physical body as well as her mind. I'm fairly sure that that is the case. Naruto?"

Naruto looked up from where he was sitting in the corner, "Yes?"

Inoichi beckoned to him. Naruto approached, "What do you need?"

Inoichi grabbed his wrist and placed Naruto's hand on the girl's forehead, "Feel for the seal."

Naruto concentrated, closing his eyes with the effort, "Found it."

A few seconds passed, his hand glowing with chakra before he suddenly jerked it back, "Ow, I hate doing that. The stinging sensation always annoys me. You alright, Aiko-chan?"

Aiko opened her eyes, causing everybody in the room to suddenly flinch. "What? Naruto-sama, is something wrong?"

Naruto pointed a quivering finger at her eyes, "Sha… Sharin… Sharingan…"

Aiko frowned before removing her hitai-ate from around her forehead and lowering it so that she could look at her reflection in the polished metal. Sure enough, her eyes had turned scarlet, each with a single tomoe around the pupil.

"Hmm," she said, tying the hitai-ate back around her head, "It must've activated that… that…"

Her eyes suddenly widened and she stared straight forwards, "Oh my god," she raised her hands to either side of her head, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," her breathing quickened as she stammered, "He, he killed everybody… oh my god…"

Sarutobi glanced anxiously at the girl; she seemed to be having a panic attack. "Inoichi?"

Inoichi nodded, moving behind the panicking girl and knocking her unconscious with a strike to the back of the neck.

"Hey, what did you…?" Naruto began to shout, but Sarutobi cut him off.

"I apologize, Naruto; but she was beginning to have a panic attack because of the memories of the massacre being unlocked. Right now, you need to take her home and look after her. I'll send a message to Kakashi saying that I'm authorizing you two to have a couple of days off so she can recover."

Naruto nodded, following Inoichi as the tall blond man lifted Aiko into his arms and carried her from the room.

-TRM-

"Sakura! You've got a visitor!"

Sakura looked up from her book as the bedroom door opened to admit Ino Yamanaka, "Hey, forehead."

Sakura nodded vaguely to the platinum blonde, "Ino."

Ino noticed Sakura's lack of any insulting nickname, "What's up Sakura? Problems with your team?"

Sakura shook her head and bit her lip.

"Then what?"

Sakura sighed, closing her book and setting it down before twisting on the bed so that she was sitting next to the other girl instead of leaning against her pillows, "The truth is, Ino, I got dropped from the shinobi program."

Ino gasped, "Why? They shouldn't have done that!"

Sakura nodded, "My mother complained to the Academy board. Well, shouted at them is more like it. They gave her a list of reasons why I was dropped they were given by the guy who might've been my sensei." She picked up a small scroll from the side and handed it to Ino, who unrolled it.

"Not at all suitable to be a shinobi… obviously done no work outside of the Academy at all…" Ino lowered the scroll and rounded on Sakura, "What's wrong with you? What did you do all the time that stopped you training?"

Sakura looked at the floor with a shamefaced expression, "Tried to make myself look better for Sasuke…"

Ino face-faulted, "You have got to be joking."

Sakura turned to her, "What? You did it too!"

Ino turned shocked eyes on her pink-haired ex-friend, "Whatever gave you that impression? I actually spent my time outside the Academy training as well as trying to make myself look good for Sasuke!"

Sakura sighed, flopping back onto the bed, "Well, it's not like it matters now."

Ino frowned, "What do you mean it doesn't matter?"

Sakura turned her head to look at the blonde without rising, "It turned out that Sasuke was a girl. Not only that but from what I've seen she seems rather taken with Naruto."

There was a muffled thunk as Ino's jaw hit the floor. Picking it up, wiping threads from the carpet off and reattaching it, Ino looked at the pinkette, "Run that by me again please, Sakura."

Sakura sighed again, "Sasuke turned out to be a girl and apparently she's into Naruto."

Ino stared at her for a long moment before she said, "Maybe you should start from the beginning."

-TRM-

Aiko woke up to find herself lying in a comfortable bed. Her eyes flicking around the room briefly, she realized she was lying in her room at home.

Raising her head slightly, she found Naruto asleep in a chair with his head resting on the blankets, holding her hand.

"Yo," said a voice.

Aiko turned her head to see Kakashi sitting on the windowsill, "You alright, Aiko-chan? You've been asleep for the last couple of days."

Aiko blinked up at him before shifting slightly and poking Naruto with her free hand. The blond shot upright, "Foolish beast! I will defeat you, for I am Sailor Ramen!"

Both Kakashi and Aiko stared at him before Aiko shook her head, "You know what, Naruto-sama… I don't really want to know."

Naruto shook his head briefly before smiling at Aiko, "How are you feeling today, Aiko-chan?"

Aiko smiled, "I am feeling perfectly fine, Naruto-sama. I believe being knocked unconscious did me good."

Naruto moved closer and hugged her, "That's great, Aiko-chan."

Kakashi broke up their brief sentimental moment, "Alright, kiddies. We're a little behind on training and missions with all that's happened, so we're really going to have to put your noses to the grindstone."

Naruto, blunt as ever, said, "Not Aiko-chan's, hopefully. It's too pretty."

Aiko went bright pink and the fox snickered, _**"Ever the charmer, aren't you Naruto?"**_

"_Shut up, Kyū."_

Something struck Aiko at that moment, "Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looked up from his book, "Yes, Aiko?"

"Back on the day when I got turned into a girl, you mentioned something along the lines of "Minato-sensei, you really _were_ bat-shit insane towards the end". What did you mean?"

Kakashi chuckled, putting his book away, "What I meant was that my sensei had a habit of being a little impulsive, as well as pranking people who annoyed him."

Aiko turned to look at Naruto, "That sounds familiar."

Kakashi nodded, "Indeed. Well, what I meant was that the night before the Kyūbi attacked, Fugaku Uchiha had come into the Hokage's office demanding to know why my sensei, the Yondaime Hokage, had commandeered a group of his Military Police for a mission outside the village. He had been carrying you in a baby-carrier and left you on the desk while he stormed out for a couple of minutes to do something or other."

He ran a hand through his hair, "I was the ANBU on guard in the office at the time, so I was watching as Minato walked up to you and started drawing on your head with an ink and brush. Finally he put it aside and made a couple of hand-seals before finishing some kind of seal. As an ANBU, I was supposed to stay completely silent unless a threat presented itself, so I didn't actually ask. Now I know what the seal he put on you did."

Aiko smiled, "So the Yondaime is responsible for this?"

"Yes," said Kakashi.

"But if part of the seal was the genjutsu that hid the fact that I was now a girl… and the other part was the part that enslaved me… why did he pick Naruto-sama for my master? Not that I'm complaining, mind…"

Kakashi looked briefly furtive, before Aiko stood up and walked towards him, looking past him out the window. He turned slightly until he saw what she was looking at; the Fourth's face.

A second later, she turned back to look at Naruto. Then she turned back to look at the Yondaime's face again, before her eyes suddenly widened and she stared at Naruto in shock before rounding on Kakashi, "Is… is he…"

Kakashi's response was to grip her arm and drag her out of the room and along the corridor before pushing her into an empty room and saying, "Don't say it."

Aiko spluttered, "You can't…"

Kakashi frowned, "Aiko. The Yondaime had very many enemies in his life. If it came out that he had a son…"

Aiko scowled right back, looking mutinous, and Kakashi experienced a brief flashback to whenever Mikoto Uchiha had disagreed with something somebody said to her, "Kakashi."

The lack of an honorific was apparent as she continued, "Naruto-sama wants to know who his parents were. You and I both know that he's smart enough to realize why the Yondaime put the servitude seal on me and attuned it to him specifically at some point."

Kakashi didn't respond, so she made one final statement, "If you won't tell him, I will, regardless of the consequences. My only purpose in life now is to serve Naruto-kun, and I'll be damned if I deprive him of something he wants so much. We would spend whole evenings talking during the last week, purely so we could come to understand each other better. One of the things I learnt is that Naruto wants to know who his parents were. I may have only been a few months old when the Kyūbi attacked and the Yondaime sacrificed his life to seal it into Naruto-sama, but I know that he was the kind of man who'd have wanted his only son to know why he has the Kyūbi sealed inside him, why he was selected for that duty in the name of Konoha."

Kakashi stayed silent for a long minute before he said, "Fine, he can know. We will have to go to the Hokage first, however."

Aiko smiled happily before running out of the room to get changed into clean clothes and get Naruto. Kakashi waited a couple of minutes before following.

-TRM-

"Jiji?"

Sarutobi looked up to see Aiko, Naruto and Kakashi entering, "Yes?"

Kakashi gave the Hokage a sheepish look, "It seems Aiko's just as smart as her mother. She figured out the connection between Naruto and Minato-sensei."

Sarutobi gave him a hard look, "You gave her a hint didn't you?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No. She figured it out on her own."

Sarutobi sighed before turning to Naruto, "Since I'm fairly sure that as her mother's child, Aiko-san will tell you if I don't…"

"You got that right," muttered the black-haired girl as she dropped into a chair, "If anyone has the right to know, it's him."

"Quite," said Sarutobi, before turning back to Naruto, "As I was saying, it's time I told you who your parents were, Naruto."

Naruto folded his arms, "I'm all ears."

Sarutobi reached into a drawer and pulled out a picture, handing it to Naruto.

Naruto took the picture and looked at it. He recognized the Yondaime Hokage instantly.

"What about my mother," he managed to say after a moment, "Do you have a picture of her as well?"

Sarutobi shook his head, "No, I'm afraid I don't. There was such a picture here, but I don't know where it's gone."

Naruto bit his lip to keep the tears down as the picture shook slightly in his grip. Aiko, sensing that his emotions were taking over, took his hand. "So… the Yondaime… was my…"

"Father, yes," Sarutobi said, "That is the reason why he sealed the Kyūbi into you; because he believed you were the best person for the job of defeating it. Or at least that's what he intended. You seem to have dealt with that problem yourself."

"_**Don't think you've conquered me, kit," **_said the Kyūbi's voice in his mind, _**"I may have given you a powerful kekkei genkai, but you will eventually have to fight me in order to gain total control over my powers."**_

"_What kind of battle?"_

"…_**Poker."**_

"…_Excuse me?"_

"_**Poker. You will have to win control over my tails from me in poker."**_

"_You _must_ be joking."_

"_**No, I'm serious. You'll have to win control over my tails in poker!"**_

"_We could do it now then…"_

"_**No, not now. Later, though. Later on you must enter your mindscape and challenge me at poker, in which you will be utterly ANNIHILATED! MUAHAHAHAHA!"**_

"_You know, that doesn't scare me in the slightest."_

"…_**Really?"**_

"_Nope. Not at all."_

"_**Drat. Ok kit, you've won the battle, but you haven't won the war!"**_

"_Just shut up already, you insane hairball."_

"_**One of these days, kit, one of these days…"**_

"_Shut up! This is meant to be an emotional moment!"_

Naruto dropped back into full awareness of the outside world just in time to hear Sarutobi's next sentence, "Since you now know who your parents are, Naruto, I can't very well deny you what is rightfully yours. Therefore I'm giving you the Namikaze estate to do with as you wish."

He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small ball, throwing it to Naruto. Naruto caught it and squinted at it. It was actually a tiny round bottle with a minute manor house set into fake ground at the bottom.

"What is it?"

"That is the Namikaze estate."

Naruto held it up in front of his eyes, "It's a little house… in a bottle. Jiji, I think you might be going senile."

Sarutobi growled, "Watch it Naruto, I'm not the Hokage for nothing. That _is_ actually the Namikaze estate, Minato put a very elaborate seal around it that activated when he died, sealing the estate away into an easily portable object for when his heir was old enough to claim it. The only person who can take it out now, Naruto… is you."

Naruto put it on the desk, "So what do I do with it?"

Sarutobi sat back in his chair, "You need to unseal it on an area of clear land about three hundred square feet in diameter."

Aiko tugged on his arm, "There's a patch of land behind the Uchiha compound right up against the wall which I think is that size or bigger. I've always wondered what it was for."

Sarutobi chuckled, "That'll be where it used to be. The Namikaze always were fond of being out of the way."

Aiko looked puzzled, "Wouldn't some of my clan have tried to sneak in to steal stuff though? I wouldn't really put it past them, judging from the stories Itachi used to tell me in order to stop me following in their footsteps."

Kakashi laughed this time, "You underestimate the sheer power of Minato-sensei's seals. I remember him showing me one of his prototype seals; it was a home defence seal which dropped a thief or whatever into a sort of pocket dimension where they could hear nothing but the song that never ends until Minato came along to get them out."

Aiko sweat-dropped, "And this is the man we put in charge of the village?"

Sarutobi laughed, "That's pretty much exactly what Fugaku said when Minato's name came up on the list of possible Yondaime candidates, though his query was more due to blind terror about what he'd end up doing to the Uchiha clan."

-TRM-

**Somewhere else.**

The aforementioned Uchiha clan head was currently chasing Minato Namikaze around and ranting about seals and sons that were really daughters and how when he got his hands on him he was going to find a way to kill a person who'd already died.

Their wives, meanwhile, were sitting beside a TV screen and giggling as they watched Mikoto's daughter standing next to Kushina's son.

"She really likes him now, doesn't she?" Mikoto murmured, "And not just because of Minato-san's seal."

"Oh indeed," said Kushina happily, "My Minato-kun always was excellent with seals. I thought you'd be more upset about it though…"

"Are you kidding?" said Mikoto incredulously, "I always wanted a daughter! If Sasuke had really been a girl we could have made up a marriage contract for them! They'd have grown up playing together!"

Minato skidded to a halt next to them, "What's happening there?"

The two women vaguely registered that Fugaku finally seemed to have given up on chasing Minato, which he had been doing for the past week, before Kushina replied, "Looks like Mikoto-chan's new little girl figured out the link between you and Naruto-kun."

Minato laughed, "She really got your intellect didn't she, Mikoto-san?"

Mikoto gushed, "Oh she most certainly did, and she looks so much like me as well!" Her smile suddenly disappearing, she fixed her eyes on her husband, "Stop trying to kill Minato-san, Fugaku-kun.

Fugaku's fingers froze inches from wrapping around Minato's neck from behind. "Why, Mikoto-chan?" he said in a voice that made the other three think of a kicked puppy.

"Because you've been chasing him for a week, get over the fact that you now have a daughter who is hopelessly devoted to his son. We're trying to watch this."

Fugaku dropped his arms and peered over his wife's shoulder, "What's happening there?"

Mikoto squinted, exploiting her talent at reading lips that had made her one of ANBU's most skilled spies, "…looks like little Aiko-chan is debating with Hokage-sama whether it'd be possible to unite the Uchiha and Namikaze clan estates into one big lot."

There was a strangled noise behind her from her husband, so she flung her elbow back and caught him in the gut, "Lighten up, Fugaku-kun. Our time's passed; it's time for our little Aiko-chan to take up the mantle."

Fugaku sighed, wincing and rubbing his gut (even for an ex-ANBU, his wife had an exceptionally powerful elbow strike) before turning to look at Kushina, "You know I blame you for this."

Kushina gave him an unconvincingly innocent look, "Why do you say that?"

"Because before he met you, Minato was a normal guy. I remember back in the Academy, you worked your way into his heart from the get-go, and now look what you did to him."

Kushina smirked, "Though I have to admit, turning your younger son into a girl that's devoted to _my_ son was the ultimate prank from the grave. I'm proud of you, my Minato-kun."

Minato laughed as he hugged his redheaded wife from behind, "I love you, Kushina-hime."

Kushina snuggled back against her husband's warm chest as they continued to watch the screen.

-TRM-

"You know, I don't actually see any problems with that," said Sarutobi, "Shall I assign another genin team to help you with it?"

Naruto shrugged, "I don't know; what do you think Aiko-chan?"

Aiko smiled, "It would be good, but considering the amount of shadow clones you can make, Naruto-sama, we might not end up needing them."

"I guess that's a point," said Naruto.

"Naruto?" said Sarutobi suddenly, "I just noticed that your Rinnegan aren't active. Any particular reason for that?"

Naruto nodded, "Kyū says that usually, the users of the Rinnegan can't deactivate it like users of the Sharingan and Byakugan can. However since he's the one pulling the strings concerning my Rinnegan, he can give me the ability to deactivate it. Why do you think nobody's been freaking out at the sight of me in the streets in the past week? I mean, apart from the stares from people who can't believe I'm being accompanied by such an attractive young lady…"

Aiko blushed, and elsewhere Fugaku suddenly felt a fatherly urge to find a way to kill Naruto Uzumaki, ghost or not.

"Alright then," said Sarutobi, "You two might want to get down to doing that then."

Naruto nodded, pocketed the small bottle, and headed for the door.

-TRM-

They met Team 8 on the way out of the building. Hinata blushed at the sight of Naruto and Kiba hailed the blond, "Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto slowed to a stop to say hello, "Hey Kiba, Hinata, Shino! Oh… and Kurenai-sensei too!" He smiled at them all.

Kiba grinned and clapped Naruto on the shoulder, "Who's your cute friend?"

Naruto grinned, slipping an arm around Aiko's shoulders and not noticing a certain amount of killing intent leaking from Hinata, "This is my team-mate, Aiko-chan."

Shino's eyebrows drew together over his dark glasses, "I thought you were teamed with Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, "Yes, I was. But Sakura got dropped and we found there was some kind of seal on Sasuke."

"A seal?" said Kurenai, frowning as she moved a little closer.

Naruto nodded, "Yes. Turns out _Sasuke _Uchiha was just a genjutsu that was held up by the seal. I broke it and Aiko was revealed."

Kiba's face fell, "You mean I was…"

"Yes," said Shino before anybody could say anything else, "I do believe you were just leering at the true form of a boy we grew up in the Academy with."

Kiba fainted, causing all of them to laugh. "You never get tired of doing that, do you Shino?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Shino calmly, "I was merely stating my observations."

"…in a most humiliatingly deadpan fashion." Aiko finished for him.

Shino smirked behind his collar, "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"Sure you don't."

"Ano…" Hinata spoke up for the first time, blushing as Naruto looked at her, "Are you two… dating?"

Aiko shook her head, "No, but I am devoted to Naruto-sama."

That piece of news seemed to rouse Kiba; he shot upright at top speed and said, "WHAT?"

Aiko repeated herself.

Kiba hugged Naruto, crying into his shoulder, "I'm so proud of you, Naruto. Taming the _female_ last Uchiha!"

Naruto shoved him off, before he suddenly registered a killing intent in the form of Kurenai and paled, "Hey, I didn't put the seal on. I couldn't even work out how to _make_ a seal of that level!"

Kurenai's killing intent faded, but she continued to glare at the blond. Naruto sighed, almost able to read the older woman's thoughts.

"I promise I will not exploit this leverage over Aiko-chan to make her do anything she does not want to do…"

Kurenai looked satisfied before she asked, "So what are you two doing?"

Naruto glanced at Aiko, "Heading home. We just needed to ask Hokage-jiji something and now we're going back to the Uchiha compound."

"You live in the Uchiha compound?" Kiba's voice was incredulous.

"Of course," said Aiko calmly, "Why would I let Naruto-sama live in that pathetic little hovel he called an apartment any longer?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly as five pairs of eyes (counting Akamaru) locked onto him. "Ano, why do you call his apartment such, Aiko-san?"

Naruto snorted contemptuously, "Because there's dry rot behind the wallpaper, rats and mice under the floorboards, and I've had to wash off more graffiti in three days than four genin teams could clean in a week before."

Kiba looked puzzled, "Graffiti? Why?"

Naruto shuffled his feet, "I don't want to talk about it yet. I will tell you eventually, just not right now." He caught Kurenai's ruby eyes over their heads and nodded, silently communicating that he was talking about the Kyūbi.

Kurenai, understanding, interrupted, "Hinata, Shino, Kiba, I'm sorry to say this but we need to get going. We need to get a mission."

The three genin nodded, saying their goodbyes to Naruto and Aiko before following their sensei along the corridor.

-TRM-

"Wow…"

"You said it, Aiko-chan."

The two genin were standing in front of the newly-unsealed Namikaze estate. It was at least three stories high, towering above the one-level Uchiha compound buildings a few hundred feet in front of it. It had taken them fifteen minutes to work out how to unseal the estate from the small bottle. It was only after Kyūbi had suggested he cut one of his fingers and smear a little blood onto the bottle that anything actually happened; namely that the bottle suddenly started shaking and Naruto was forced to use a fast Kawarimi in order to avoid getting crushed under the bottle as it suddenly expanded, then dissolved, leaving in its place the full-sized Namikaze estate.

-TRM-

Naruto and Aiko glanced at each other cautiously before approaching the front door.

Inside, they found a long hallway carpeted in sapphire blue with a symbol that resembled a wave with three small stars in the trough of the wave where it curled over to form the crest, outlined in gold thread. "That must be the Namikaze symbol," remarked Aiko, looking at one of them as they walked past it.

Naruto nodded as he began opening doors. Finally he came across a large dining room, in which he could see a letter and a small stack of scrolls sitting on the table. "Aiko-chan," he said, gesturing to her.

She followed him into the room and looked at the table, specifically the letter. "Naruto-sama," she said, picking it up, "It's addressed to you."

Naruto moved over to the table and looked over Aiko's shoulder. Sure enough, the name on the front of the letter was his own.

He picked it up, slit it open with his finger, and tugged out the letter, unfolding it gently.

_Dear Naruto,_

_If you are reading this, then I am probably dead, and you know of your heritage. Please thank Sarutobi-jiji on my behalf for telling you, and remember that whatever way you decide to go during your life, I will always love you and be proud of you._

_Actually, I just realized I just jumped the gun a little, and you probably don't know who I am. My name is Kushina Uzumaki, and I am your mother. I'm originally from Uzushiogakure, but I came to Konoha to learn to be a kunoichi in the Academy, since Uzushiogakure was actually destroyed at the end of the Second Great Shinobi War. I was also known as the Spinning Red Death because of my signature weapons and my hair colour, though it might also have been because of all the blood that kept flying around when I got into a fight, I was never really sure. There's a picture of me and your father inside the envelope if you want to see what I look like._

Aiko picked up the envelope and tugged out the picture in question, holding it up so Naruto could see. It showed a tall blond man they recognized from their classes in the Academy as the Yondaime Hokage, standing and laughing with an arm around the shoulders of a tall woman in ANBU gear as they stood on the roof of the Hokage Tower with the Hokage Monument behind them. The woman had deep red hair that hung down to her calves, and was also held back above one eye by a small green hairclip. Twin bangs hung down either side of her face and in her hand she held a porcelain fox mask. The hilt of a katana with an oddly longer handle than standard emerged over her right shoulder as she smiled at the camera, her violet eyes seeming to twinkle even in the frozen image.

Naruto fought down the urge to give a small sob before looking back to the letter.

_The Kyūbi is coming, so I must be brief from here on out. Minato has gone to deal with the problem, but I know that gleam in his eyes; he's going to do something extremely stupid. I hope he's not going to use that new seal he's created… but he probably will. He's sort of stupid like that; I sincerely hope you got his attitude and outlook on life. I can tell just by looking at you lying in your crib next to me that you got his looks; the spiky blond hair and cerulean eyes._

_Minato's coming back. He's taking you with him, and he looks really grave. I think he might be planning to use that seal. If he does, be careful when dealing with the Kyūbi. It's had centuries to come up with new plans and ideas on how to trick those around it, and it won't surrender its power to you easily._

_I'm leaving you a gift from both me and Minato; the scrolls on the table next to you. Two should be storage scrolls; one (the one with a picture of two swords on the outside edge) contains my own weapons, the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma, or the Twin Crimson Devils. It might just look like a standard katana with a longer-than-average hilt, but if you hold the hilt in both hands and channel chakra into it, it'll reveal the second part of the weapon._

Aiko picked up the scroll and unrolled it. Naruto channelled some chakra into it, unsealing a katana he recognized as the one in the photograph. Picking it up and unsheathing it with difficulty (it was twice as long as his arm), he adopted a two-handed grip on the hilt like he had seen sparring jōnin and ANBU do, and channelled some chakra into the hilt.

A second later, the hilt suddenly divided, a second blade emerging from the second part of the hilt and extending until it was about the length of a standard kodachi short-sword. The two hilts were connected by a long chain which seemed to extend and retract as he moved his arms, moving snake-like the whole time so that he never got it tangled around his body.

Setting it down (the kodachi vanishing back into the hilt of the katana as he removed his hands from the weapon) and picking up the letter again, he continued reading.

_You'll need to ask the man who made it, one Tensu Takeshi of Takeshi Wares about the scroll of katas so you can learn to use this weapon. I entrusted them to him to keep for my descendants to learn once I mastered the weapon. Be careful with it when you're fighting in open combat however; this weapon is keen even without wind chakra being pushed through it and I've almost killed Minato with it before by accident._

_Now, the second gift is from Minato. The second storage scroll, the one with a picture of a line of kunai along the edge, contains the key to Minato's best and greatest technique. Don't open it yet, read the rest of what I have to say first._

_The other two scrolls will teach you his two main techniques, one of which I have already mentioned to you. They are called the Rasengan and the Hiraishin. The Hiraishin is what Minato used to end the Third Great Shinobi War; it's an S-ranked space-time technique that Minato keyed so that only those of Namikaze blood can use. It's what got him his nickname, "the Yellow Flash"._

_The Rasengan is an A-ranked technique which is known to be the highest level of shape manipulation for chakra. Ironically, Minato was never able to complete it by combining his chakra nature with it. Maybe you could manage it some day; I'm fairly sure that you will have inherited our chakra natures, those tend to run in the family. Maybe you have Minato's wind nature and my water nature; it's worth a look. Ask your jōnin-sensei (I hope it is Kakashi, and if it is tell him if he screws up your education I'll kick his ass when he dies) for some chakra paper to test your affinity._

_I'm really starting to ramble, aren't I? Well anyway, make sure to look up Minato's sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin, who is also your godfather. If you want to know more than that or can't find that irresponsible old pervert, look up his old team-mates if they're still alive, Hiashi Hyūga and Mikoto Uchiha._

"That's interesting; my mother was on a team with Hinata's father and your father. I didn't know that," whispered Aiko into his ear. Naruto nodded before continuing to read.

_Hopefully Jiraiya took you in after this all blew over, but knowing him as I do, he probably didn't. If he didn't, tell him I'll kick his ass when he dies too. Tell him I'm ordering him to let you sign the toad summoning contract. Also, tell Gamabunta (you'll know him when you meet him, trust me) that you're Minato's kid and that you'll be happy to have a drink with him sometime. After all, if you're old enough to kill people with a pair of chopsticks (which I actually did once, it's rather fun playing the How-Many-Ways-Can-I-Make-This-Grown-Man-Cry-Like-a-Little-Girl-With-Just-a-Pair-of-Chopsticks game), then you're old enough to get drunk off your ass._

Naruto shivered slightly; how much of a sadist had his mother _been_?

_I imagine you probably think I'm a sadist now for saying that, but the truth is I only ever did that once. If I recall, it was Jiraiya I did it to and it was because he peeped on me in the hot springs. Ahhh, good times._

_By the way if you're looking for Jiraiya around the village, that's a good place to try first. Look for a guy in a red waistcoat with long white hair if he hasn't changed his look since I last saw him._

_I imagine you're getting bored of reading now, so I'll just impart a few words of wisdom before ending this. Ramen is the food of the _gods_ (no really, I asked Kami and she's a big fan!); if you don't like it I'll disavow all relation to you when you get up here._

_Dango, on the other hand, is the stuff of pure evil (I'm sure little Anko-chan will hate me for saying that; you should look her up, she's an interesting character to talk to!), and you shouldn't eat it. It's disgusting; vile, lacking all the wonderful noodle-y goodness that embodies ramen!_

_I should go now; I think Tsunade-baa-chan (she hates it when I call her that) is getting cramp from having to write all of this down since I'm dictating it to her from my hospital bed. Incidentally that's another person you should look up after reading this; Tsunade of the Senju clan, who is your godmother._

_Now I'll say goodbye, Naruto. I'd like you to remember that I love you and will always be proud of you, no matter what happens, and if you get up here before fifty by doing anything short of saving an orphanage from a missing-nin with a penchant for explosives, I will kick your ass so hard your tongue will taste of shoe-leather, dattebane!_

…_Dammit, I hope you don't pick that up from me. Anyway, now I have to say goodbye for real. I love you, I'll always be proud of you, and I'll always be watching over you._

_Love,_

_Kushina_

Naruto folded the letter and tucked it into a pocket before picking up the scrolls. Each had a word along the edge, one being RASENGAN and the other HIRAISHIN.

Picking up the scroll labelled RASENGAN and unrolling it, he scanned what they would need to learn it and turned to Aiko, "Do you know anywhere in Konoha that stocks rubber balls and balloons?"

Aiko gave him a bug-eyed look, "Before this I was a broody grouch, why would I have had any need for rubber balls and balloons?"

Naruto shrugged, "Just asking. I haven't been inside most of the shops in Konoha for obvious reasons."

Aiko thought for a minute before she said, "There's a small shop which sells party supplies and toys down by the river, maybe you could find what you need there…"

Naruto nodded and dispatched a clone to follow up on that, giving him instructions to buy as much as he could.

As soon as the clone had left through the front door, Aiko frowned, "Why'd you want rubber balls and balloons anyway?"

Naruto smiled, pointing at the scroll, "It's the steps to making a Rasengan. The first part is rotation; I need to pop a balloon full of water. It's all here; these must be my father's notes on it and how to achieve each step."

Aiko took the scroll and read it before nodding, "I see."

-TRM-

The clone returned fifteen minutes later, laden down with bags full of rubber balls and balloons. When Naruto dispelled the clone, he discovered that the clone had henged itself into somebody else before entering the shop.

They immediately went into the kitchen and began filling a pack of the balloons with water before taking them outside, where the two of them sat down and began working on trying to burst them.

"You know," said Aiko in a faintly exasperated tone, "This might be easier if we were able to see somebody else do the jutsu… but I don't think there is anybody who can do it now that the Yondaime's dead."

-TRM-

Two different people sitting in two different bars in two different countries, a tall masked man with his hitai-ate over one eye and a white-haired man in red and olive-green, both sneezed at once.

-TRM-

"Yeah, I guess…" said Naruto, watching in frustration as his balloon simply flexed slightly in his hand before returning to its previous position.

After a little while of trying to burst the balloons, they set them aside to try again the next day, and moved outside to spar.

-TRM-

The next day, Naruto and Aiko stood in front of Kakashi on Training Ground #7, waiting to commence the day's training.

"Sensei," said Aiko, "Do you have any chakra paper on you?"

Kakashi looked up from his book with his single eye, "Hmm?"

Aiko repeated the question, "Do you have any chakra paper?"

Kakashi frowned, "Why do you want that?"

Naruto broke in with an explanation, "You know how we went to check out the Namikaze estate yesterday? Well we found a letter from my mother. She says that if you screw up my education, she'll kick your ass when you die. She also said to get hold of some chakra paper; something about affinities."

Kakashi scratched his masked chin, "What else did this letter say?"

Aiko took up the speech, "It said that if Naruto-sama wanted to learn more about his parents, particularly his father, we were to find his sensei, some guy called Jiraiya, or the Yondaime's old team-mates, my mother and Hinata-san's father. Apparently Jiraiya was to allow Naruto-sama to sign some kind of summoning contract."

Kakashi mused for a second before he said, "Can we wait a little while before we start working on elemental affinities? I would at least like the two of you to get some decent experience under your belts before I start you off on that because of how difficult it is."

Kakashi made to expand on his last statement, but was interrupted by shouting.

All three members of Team 7 turned to face the entrance to their training ground to see a mass of girls approaching. One, a purple-haired girl that Naruto and Aiko recognized as Ami, was shouting at a pink-haired girl they recognized as Sakura, "Don't be stupid Sakura; you think we're going to fall for that lame excuse why we shouldn't pursue Sasuke-kun anymore? Like I'm going to believe that Sasuke turned out to really be a girl!"

She turned around and pointed at Naruto, "You, baka! Where's Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto nodded towards Aiko, "There she is."

Ami looked at Aiko then snorted, "Very funny, baka. Now drop the genjutsu, we need to talk to Sasuke-kun."

Naruto folded his arms, "It's not a genjutsu. Aiko-chan is actually Sasuke."

Ami snorted again, storming up to Naruto and raising a hand to strike him, "TELL ME WHERE SASUKE-KUN IS! NOW!"

Naruto shook his head and Ami swung her fist forwards.

It was intercepted by Aiko, who was suddenly standing in front of Naruto with Ami's wrist held tightly in her hand and her Sharingan activated. "You," she said calmly, squeezing Ami's wrist until she gasped in pain, "…will not strike Naruto-sama."

Ami tried to tug her wrist free, but it appeared that Aiko was using her tree-walking exercises to maintain a tight grip on Ami's wrist, "Let go of me!"

Aiko looked Ami right in the eyes, making sure she could definitely see the Sharingan, before she began to speak, "Sasuke Uchiha is dead. I am his replacement, Aiko Uchiha. You will cease this ridiculous pursuit of my affections, such as they are, _immediately_. The one kunoichi among you," Ino jumped as Aiko addressed her, "would do better concentrating on her career, rather than mooning after a boy who never even existed in the first place."

She pushed Ami away from her, stepping back to stand next to Naruto, "Now go. I don't want to see any of you doing this again, it's a disgrace to our gender."

The girls stared at her for a minute before turning and beginning to leave. Ino was the last to turn towards the exit of the clearing, but at that moment Aiko sighed and spoke again, "Ino-san, wait a minute."

Ino blinked and turned back. Aiko walked up to her and held out a hand, "In truth, you were the only one of that lot I ever really respected, the only one who valued her career as much as she valued pursuing Sasuke. As such, I'd rather like it if we could possibly be friends."

Ino blinked for a second before she smiled, nodded and shook the proffered hand, "Of course."

Aiko grinned at her, "Oh and another thing. You aren't to pursue Naruto-sama either."

Ino opened her mouth to protest, but then realized that Aiko was joking and smiled at her.

Kakashi coughed, interrupting the moment, "Yamanaka-san, I would like to continue training my team so if you don't mind…?"

Ino nodded, "Of course, Kakashi-sensei. I'll see you later, Aiko-san?"

Aiko nodded, "We live in the Uchiha district at the moment."

Ino smiled, "Alright. See you another time then."

Aiko nodded, "Bye."

Ino left.

Kakashi said, "Alright, I'd like you two to spar for a while."

Naruto and Aiko nodded, activating their respective dōjutsu before launching at each other. Kakashi settled himself leaning against a tree to watch.

-TRM-

"Hey, Tenten-san!"

Tenten looked up from her manga and smiled happily when she saw who it was, "Hello Aiko-san, Naruto-kun! What can I do for you today?"

Narut placed his mother's sword on the counter, "Do you have any idea where I can find lessons in how to use this?"

Tenten's jaw dropped as she looked at the blade. "Is that what I think it is…?"

Aiko frowned, "What is it, Tenten-san?"

Tenten picked up the weapon and carried it over to the window, where she examined it minutely for a few seconds before coming back and looking at Naruto with stars in her eyes, "Where did you find this?"

Naruto blinked, "My mother left it to me. Why?"

Tenten held out the sword, "This is the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma. The Twin Crimson Devils, as wielded by the Spinning Red Death. How did your mother get hold of this weapon?"

Naruto looked confused, "The letter my mother left with the weapon says she _was_ the Spinning Red Death."

Tenten's jaw dropped, "Your mother… was _the_ Spinning Red Death?"

At Naruto's nod she squealed with glee, causing the two genin in front of her to wince and a tall man to come running from the back room, "Tenten, what's the matter?"

Tenten was hopping up and down with glee as she pointed to Naruto, "Tou-san, he's the Spinning Red Death's son!"

The man took one look at Naruto and surprised everybody by grabbing him by the collar, physically lifting him off the ground and pinning him against the door he'd come through, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Tenten. I suspect that this boy is lying!"

"Hey!" said Naruto angrily, "I wouldn't lie about something like that!"

"Then prove it!" snarled the man, "I made that weapon specifically so that only the Spinning Red Death could use it. Other than her, only a direct relation of her could wield it in its true form."

Naruto scowled, "Then put me down and I'll show you!"

The man lowered Naruto to the ground and watched as Naruto walked over to the weapon and picked it up,

Tenten and her father watched with Aiko as Naruto adopted a two-handed grip on the hilt and channelled chakra. Before their eyes, the hilt split in half as the kodachi's blade began to form on the lower end of the second hilt-part, a long chain appearing where the two pieces of the hilt had separated.

Tenten's father stared as Naruto drew the two blades further apart, the chain extending smoothly as the two hilts moved apart.

"Okay," he said finally, "I'm convinced. Let's see, I might still have the scrolls she learnt from somewhere."

Naruto grinned before looking down at the weapon in his hands, "Er, how do I put the kodachi-part back?"

The man didn't even turn around, "She had the same problem at first as well. Just stop channelling chakra into the hilt."

Naruto stopped channelling chakra into the hilt and watched as the chain retracted, pulling the two hilts end-to-end before the kodachi's blade retracted as well.

The man finally returned carrying a scroll, which he threw to Naruto. The blond caught it reverse-hand before saying, "Thanks. How much do I owe you?"

The man waved a hand dismissively, "Nothing. Just make sure you keep your mother's legacy alive, won't you?"

Naruto nodded and grinned before turning to Aiko and beckoning her to follow him.

As the pair walked out of the shop, Tenten's father turned to her, "Is it just me… or did that girl look like a female version of the Uchiha kid?"

Tenten smiled, knowing that Naruto and Aiko had entrusted that particular secret to her and her alone, "Must've been your imagination, tou-san."

-TRM-

Kakashi was startled when he saw them the next morning. He hadn't been expecting Naruto to be wearing a large sword on his back that Kakashi couldn't help but recognize.

"That's the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma." It wasn't a question.

Naruto nodded, "Yup, and I have the scrolls to learn to use it."

Kakashi nodded slightly before he suddenly said, "Your mother was a wonderful woman. I just have to make a request."

"What?"

"Please refrain from releasing that in public. It's not exactly a weapon you want to show off to the world."

Naruto nodded, "Got it. What are we doing today then?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, "D-ranked missions."

Naruto nodded for a second before he formed his favourite seal, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

About eighty clones appeared and Naruto grinned, "Bring on the D-ranks!"

-TRM-

Their first job of the day was pulling up weeds in the gardens belonging to one of Konoha's best herbalists. The man displayed the fact he disliked Naruto from the start, bringing out lemonade for the three of them and drinking Naruto's right in front of him.

It was only Naruto's repeated mutters to himself that harming the client was against the rules that stopped him activating his Rinnegan and blasting the man through the high fence.

When they had finished, the man refused to pay Naruto on the grounds that he had done no work at all, which he actually had, even more than Aiko. Aiko had flashed her Sharingan at him, but the man had still refused. Not just that, but he had spat in Aiko's face.

That had made Naruto lose his temper; it was only Aiko's and Kakashi's combined efforts that prevented him from activating his Rinnegan and blasting the man into orbit with an overpowered Shinra Tensei. Instead he had calmly helped Aiko clean her face before walking away.

-TRM-

They asked Sarutobi about possibly meeting Jiraiya of the Sannin, but were told that he was out of the village at present and most likely would not return until the Chūnin Exams.

At a loose end, they decided to follow up on Kushina's other suggestion; track down Hiashi Hyūga and see what he could tell them about Naruto's family.

It took fifteen minutes to persuade the two guards at the gates of the Hyūga compound that they were not there to cause trouble, and a further five for one of the Hyūga that had been standing around to get Hiashi.

They had a pleasant conversation with Hinata while they were waiting, as she had entered the sparring area to find the pair sitting on the ground watching two other Hyūga practicing their Jyūken.

Finally the man returned and said, "Hiashi-sama will see you now," so they said their goodbyes to Hinata and followed the man along to Hiashi's study.

Hiashi sat behind a low wooden desk, staring at them in a scrutinizing fashion when they sat down opposite him. Naruto cut directly to the chase, "Hyūga-sama, I came here to ask something of you."

Taking Hiashi's silence as a cue to continue he said, "I recently came into possession of a letter to me from my mother, Kushina Uzumaki, explaining the identity of my father and pointing me to you as a potential source of information about him. Therefore I ask if you would please tell me what you know of the Minato Namikaze _you_ knew when you were on his team."

Hiashi continued to look at him for a second before he smiled, "Yes, Minato was indeed on my team when we were genin under the tutelage of Jiraiya of the Sannin. Ah, the number of times Jiraiya begged me to help him gather "research" for his books, and the number of times Mikoto-san, for your mother was also on the team with us, Uchiha-san," he nodded to Aiko, "would try and beat him up for that or threaten us with death for being perverts, even if our sensei was the only real pervert on the team."

He looked wistfully out of the window, "Your mother… she was a rare beauty; then again all three were; Mikoto, Kushina and my own dear Hitomi; but Kushina stood out. If I recall, the pair of them fell in love as soon as they laid eyes on each other. They completed each other; his cool head and calm demeanour with her fiery temperament and hyperactive attitude, both of which I see in you."

Aiko giggled, "Yes, we understood that much."

Naruto made a face, "What is this, "Pick-on-Naruto" week?"

Hiashi chuckled, and Naruto stood up, "Thank you, Hiashi-san., for telling me all of this."

Hiashi copied him and they shook hands, "It was my pleasure, Uzumaki-san. Your father saved my life on more than one occasion."

They exchanged a couple more pleasantries, and then Naruto and Aiko took their leave.

-TRM-

"Alright, fox!" Naruto yelled, "I need an answer here!"

There was complete silence inside Naruto's mindscape before reddish light blossomed at one end and a rumbling voice replied, **"Keep your wig on, brat. What do you want from me now?"**

Naruto, undeterred as the fox loomed over him, folded his arms, "About time you woke up. I want to know what else I need to learn for my Rinnegan!"

The Kyūbi crouched down, looking Naruto in the eyes, **"You've mastered both the Deva and Preta Paths, I think you should practice the techniques specific to the Animal Path next."**

The Kyūbi sat down on the floor and curled his tails around his body before giving Naruto a critical look. **"There are a total of eight animals you may summon with the Animal Path." **He flicked his tails at the opposite wall, causing eight images to appear. He pointed his ninth tail at the first one, which showed a huge bird with a beak like a drill, **"This one can be summoned by thinking the word "bird" while channelling the chakra for the technique."**

He pointed to the next one, **"Dog,"**

The next one, **"Chameleon,"**

The fourth, **"Panda,"**

Fifth, **"Ox,"**

Sixth, **"Rhino,"**

Seventh, **"Crab. I know it doesn't look much like a crab but it is a crustacean, I just picked the word "crab" because you probably can't pronounce the word "crustacean"."**

He ignored Naruto's offended protest and jabbed his tail at the last one, **"And last but not least, bug."**

Naruto examined the pictures as behind him, Kyūbi yawned and put his head on his paws, evidently wishing to go back to his nap, **"You might also be able to summon your clones and maybe that pretty little slave of yours too."**

Naruto scowled, "Leave Aiko-chan out of your fantasies, ero-Kyū. Anyway, thanks for telling me this, I'll get a load of my clones working on that during team training today."

Kyūbi smirked, **"You do that. Now get out of here, brat. I want to go back to my nap."**

Naruto nodded and allowed himself to fade out of his mindscape.

-TRM-

Naruto woke to find Aiko looking down at him, a smile on her face and a tray of breakfast in her arms. She was wearing an apron over her clothes and her hair was tied back into a long ponytail.

"A tenshi with breakfast. Is it my birthday?" Naruto quipped, before looking out the window, "No I can't see any angry mobs heading this way, so it can't be my birthday…"

The black-haired girl set the tray down on the bedside table before swatting him across the top of the head, "Cut it out Naruto."

Naruto obeyed before grinning as Aiko set the tray down across his knees and then sat down on the edge of the bed, "Thanks, Aiko-chan."

Aiko grabbed a piece of toast off the plate, taking a bite out of it and smiling, "Think nothing of it, Naruto-sama."

They ate quietly for a few minutes before Naruto suddenly said, "Aiko-chan, did Inoichi-san find out who gave you classified files in the end? I mean before he activated the seal on your mind."

Aiko smiled, "I told them when they asked. The only reason they ended up putting me under that jutsu was because I swore at him when he told me to tell him who it was. I wonder; if I hadn't been such a jerk, would I be in this situation now?"

Naruto shrugged, "I guess we'll never find out now, will we?"

They ate in silence for a few more minutes before Aiko asked, "So what do you think we'll cover in team training today?"

Naruto shrugged, chewing idly on a piece of bacon, "Kyū thinks it's time I started working on the Animal Path, but Kakashi-sensei might want us to work on chakra control exercises so I might end up having to relegate the Animal Path training to my clones."

Aiko screwed up her face in an effort to remember what he had told her about the individual Paths. "The Animal Path is the summoning one isn't it?"

Naruto nodded, swallowing the piece of bacon and picking up another with his fork, "Apparently there are eight creatures I can summon with it, and Kyū reckons I'll be able to summon my clones and you as well."

Aiko thought for a second, taking a bite from a fried egg, "That'll be good. If I get captured on a mission, you'll just be able to summon me out of danger."

Naruto smirked at her, flashing his Rinnegan on and off again, "What about me?"

Aiko scoffed, "If you ended up in that kind of situation, I'm sure you'd just blow everything around you to kingdom come and stroll out of the wreckage."

Naruto chuckled, "Fair point."

Aiko smiled before picking up the empty tray and carrying it from the room, while Naruto got up and went for a shower.

-TRM-

Naruto's prediction came true within a few hours; Kakashi did indeed want them to practice chakra control exercises when they arrived on Training Ground #7.

Naruto, as a result, let two dozen of his clones working on the Animal Path while he and Aiko worked on climbing trees.

They were working less than fifteen minutes before Naruto suddenly stopped and closed his eyes, "Wow, I can see everything from up here!"

Aiko looked around; they were barely off the ground on their respective trees, "Naruto-sama, are you feeling alright?"

Naruto simply smiled, his eyes still shut as he pointed towards the sky. Aiko and Kakashi turned around to see a huge bird with a beak like a drill winging its way slowly overhead, "It's one of my new summons;" said Naruto happily, "My clones just managed to summon it."

Aiko smiled, "Mind taking me for a ride later?"

Naruto grinned happily at her, "Sure, Aiko-chan."

Kakashi threw a pebble at each of them, "Get back to work!"

Naruto frowned, "Can we have a break, please?"

Kakashi smiled unpleasantly under his mask before flashing through seals, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Two large dogs appeared. Kakashi pointed to the two genin, "Make them climb the trees, please."

Aiko and Naruto backed up towards the trees, "Hey, Kakashi-sensei… that isn't necessary… Please don't do it."

The dogs started barking and Naruto and Aiko immediately started trying to get up their trees as fast as they could. Kakashi sat down against another tree and pulled out his Icha Icha.

-TRM-

Naruto and Aiko returned home that evening sore and covered in leaves, tree sap and tiny pieces of bark. Neither was in any mood to do any more training for the evening on the Rasengan, and Naruto _definitely _wasn't in the mood to practice using the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma, so both of them simply ate some dinner and crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Since they went to sleep so early, Naruto and Aiko woke up before the sun had fully reason and walked over to the Namikaze estate to start training for the day. Halfway there, they were intercepted.

"YOSH!" boomed a voice far too loudly for the early hour, "LOOK, LEE! OTHERS HAVE THE FLAMES OF YOUTH NECESSARY TO RISE BEFORE THE SUN TO TRAIN! LET US GO SPEAK TO THEM!"

Aiko noticed Naruto shivering before he suddenly pulled on her arm, "Run!"

They only made it a few metres before they were intercepted by the shouter.

Aiko noticed Naruto shaking with fear when she saw the man, and had to resist the urge to stare at the eyebrows like hairy caterpillars. It wasn't just the eyebrows she had difficulty not staring at; also the black bowl-cut and the vivid green jumpsuit and orange legwarmers that matched nothing this side of the Moon.

Naruto, remembering the trauma of the man's sunset genjutsu once before, was trying to keep down the urge to either flee or blow him away with a Shinra Tensei.

"He… hello," he managed to force out, "H-How are you, G-Gai-sensei?"

Aiko suddenly registered a smaller version of the green monstrosity emerging from behind it, _"Dear Kami, that thing can reproduce!"_

"Gai-sensei," said the boy, squinting down at Naruto through massive black eyes, "I think your youth is overpowering him!"

Gai looked down at Naruto's terrified expression before he said, "Ah! I am sorry, dear friend! I sometimes forget that my youthfulness can be a little too much for those not in the springtime of their youth!"

Aiko bent over and tried to snap Naruto out of it, but her blond master seemed to have gone into shock. Standing up and forcing a courteous smile onto her face, Aiko smiled at the tall man, "It is good to meet you, Mr…"

"Gai!" boomed the green beast, "Maito Gai, the Noble Green Beast of Konoha, and this is my cute and youthful student Rock Lee!"

Lee beamed at her, "It is nice to meet another who shines with the light of youth!"

Aiko shivered, before smiling, "I'm Aiko, it's nice to meet you Lee."

Gai gave her a wide, toothy grin, and Aiko fought down the urge to shield her eyes, "Ah, you must be Aiko Uchiha! My youthful kunoichi student Tenten has told us much of you!"

Aiko smiled, "So you're Tenten's teacher? She's told me a bit about you!" This was bending the truth slightly, but Gai wasn't going to know that.

Gai beamed again, and Aiko felt her hand twitch slightly with the temptation to shield her eyes before he said, "And what are you doing out so early, Uchiha-san?"

Aiko smiled, "My friend and I were just on our way to his house to do a little bit of training before we have to meet our sensei."

Gai nodded, "And who is your sensei?"

"Kakashi Hatake."

"Ahhh, my eternal rival! I shall let you go then, and tell him I relish our next contest!"

Aiko smiled, "I will. Let's go Naruto." She gripped the boy's arm and escorted him away.

-TRM-

"Now do you see why I'm afraid of that guy?" croaked Naruto as soon as they were inside the Namikaze estate.

Aiko shivered, "Yeah, it was all I could do to keep myself from screaming in fear just then."

Naruto nodded, "Let's go make some tea to settle our nerves before we start training."

Aiko nodded and followed her master towards the kitchen. They had work to do.

**(A/N: Yes, I know this is really late, and by the time most of you read this it'll probably no longer be April Fool's Day, but since everybody in America (which comprises the majority of my readers, incidentally) is about five or six hours behind me at any one time, I guess it still counts. Anyway, next story to update will be Kunai and then I'll start writing the next chapters to my other fics. Now, in the words of Reaver from the Fable series (Stephen Fry FTW), tatty bye! Leonineus, OUT!)**


	3. The Three Dōjutsu

The Rinnegan Maelstrom

Chapter Three: The Three Dōjutsu

"Why?"

Naruto looked up, "Why what, Ino-chan?"

Ino scratched her arm sheepishly, "Why are you being so nice to me now? I mean, I treated you like dirt in the Academy and then there was the last day when I was helping to beat you up…"

Naruto turned to face her as they walked down the street to find a good restaurant, "Have you learned your lesson?"

At the other blonde's nod he grinned, "Then we have no problem, do we Aiko-chan?"

Aiko shook her head, "No."

Naruto grinned, "There we go then."

Ino frowned, "But I…"

Aiko cut her off, "Do you want Naruto-sama to "punish" you, Ino-san?"

Ino went pink as the dark-haired girl approached her and began to whisper in her ears. A second later a trickle of blood started to flow from her nose as her complexion deepened to red.

Naruto chuckled at her look before turning and looking over at a restaurant on their right, "How about there? They might let us in."

-TRM-

At first, the restaurant's doorman was unwilling to let Naruto in, but Aiko gave him a Sharingan-enhanced glare and he soon folded and let them in.

It was as they were sitting down that they heard a voice say, "Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto and the two girls turned to see Kiba sitting at the table behind them with Kurenai, Shino and Hinata, who was turning pink and poking the tips of her fingers together. The dog-nin grinned at Naruto as Akamaru poked his head out of Kiba's jacket to see what was going on, "Can't you leave any of the pretty girls for the rest of us?"

Naruto grinned, "Hey Kiba, Shino, Hinata-chan, Kurenai-sensei!"

Hinata's face went a deeper shade of pink, _"He called me –chan! Don't faint don't faint don't faint…"_

Kurenai fielded for her female genin, "Hello, Naruto-san."

Shino simply nodded as Kiba grinned and leaned over to pull their table closer while Aiko went off to find the doorman to ask if it was alright.

"So," said Kurenai, once Aiko had returned with an affirmative and Naruto and Kiba had lifted the table over so that it was touching Team 8's original table, "What's Kakashi been teaching you?"

Naruto grinned as he put his arm around Aiko where she sat on his left with Hinata on his right, "We managed to activate Aiko-chan's Sharingan, so now we're working on our individual dōjutsu to improve on them!"

Kurenai's eyebrow hiked up a little, "You have a dōjutsu?"

Naruto nodded, flashing his Rinnegan on and off once before smiling at Hinata, "Shame we didn't get Hinata-chan on our team, three dōjutsu-users would be awesome!"

Hinata blushed at the smile from her crush, but forced herself not to faint as the blond genin reflexively slipped an arm around her shoulders as well.

Kurenai nodded, "Alright, so what has Kakashi been teaching you?"

Naruto smirked, "Taijutsu, teamwork exercises, hell I've just started working on learning to use my mother's sword."

Kurenai's eyebrow quirked, "Your mother's sword?"

Naruto nodded, "The… Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma?"

Kurenai's eyes widened, "Your mother is… the wielder of the Twin Crimson Devils?"

At Naruto's nod she gave a soft mutter of surprise, "No… it couldn't be a coincidence."

"Why…?" Naruto began, but she quickly cut him off.

"Your mother… was my jōnin-sensei."

Naruto tilted his head slightly, "Who were your team-mates?"

Kurenai's smile disappeared, "They died in the Kyūbi's attack."

Naruto glanced at the desk, "Oh sorry. Can… can I talk to you about her some time?"

Kurenai's smile returned, "Of course."

Naruto smiled, and they quickly settled down for their meal.

-TRM-

The next day, Naruto woke up to find Aiko, as usual, trying to put his blankets out of a job.

They got ready for the day, Naruto collecting all his assorted gear and strapping the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma onto his back while Aiko tied her long hair up into a ponytail and gathered her things.

Finally they took off for the training grounds across town. Kakashi turned up an hour after they arrived, and was surprised to find Naruto engaged in a free-for-all melee with about three dozen clones, all of them wielding unsealed double-swords and the air full of clashing metal.

Kakashi turned as Aiko approached him, her Sharingan already active and a small smile on her lips, "How long has he been doing this?"

Aiko shrugged, "Naruto-sama started the battle about half an hour after we arrived so… half an hour."

"Anyway," said Kakashi, drawing the blond genin's attention as he dispelled the clones and walked over, returning the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma to its sheath, "I've got a couple of D-ranks rigged up for us today."

Naruto grinned, "Alright, let's head out!"

-TRM-

"Back for another mission already?" said Sarutobi as Naruto and Aiko entered with Kakashi and Kakashi reported a successful mission.

Naruto grinned, "Any chance of a slightly more difficult mission this time? Please?"

Sarutobi flicked through the files and nodded once, "We have a C-rank mission in a town to the south. Apparently someone has been robbing their shops and they suspect it might be a bandit."

Naruto's eyebrow quirked up, "Bandit? Then why's it a C-rank?"

Iruka smiled, "Any missions that might involve combat are automatically C-rank or above, Naruto."

Naruto nodded, "Right. Well, tomorrow then?"

At Sarutobi's nod he turned and walked out.

-TRM-

They set off early the next morning, completely geared up for a lengthy mission since it was unclear how long capturing the bandit would take. All the same, Naruto was confident that between his Rinnegan and Aiko's Sharingan, capturing the bandit would be a cinch.

They reached the town by mid-afternoon to find the mayor in a flap. It transpired that another dango shop had been robbed earlier that day, and word was starting to spread. "You have to find this thief!" the mayor shrieked, causing Naruto to wince and dig into his ear before responding.

"You can count on us. Can we see the latest shop to see if there's anything we can pick up?"

The mayor nodded and led them across the town, where they found the owner of the dango shop (a man named Onimaru judging by the sign over the door), fretting in front of his shop. When he saw them he cried out in relief, "Are you the ninja mayor-sama hired to catch this thief? Oh thank goodness!"

After they had had a look inside the crime scene (where Naruto said he could detect a faint aroma of snakes but couldn't think of any reason why), Kakashi started issuing instructions.

"Naruto, I want you to put a henged Bunshin to observe each of the dango bars which haven't yet been hit. If they see anything out of the ordinary, they are to either activate their Rinnegan and try to get a better look or immediately dispel."

Naruto nodded and turned to the mayor to request a map. As soon as one was provided, he spawned a horde of Kage Bunshin, all of which henged into various insects and flew off to the other dango shops.

-TRM-

There was no sign of anything funny that merited the clones alerting Naruto, so they settled down in a hotel for the night.

Naruto and Aiko played a few games of cards before settling down to sleep.

-TRM-

When they woke up they found that Kakashi, who had taken a patrolling shift around the town during the night, had never come back to the hotel.

Deciding he was just out doing Kakashi things, the two genin prepared for another day of surveying the town when Naruto suddenly straightened up, the memories of one of his clones covering a dango shop in the next district slamming into his head.

"Let's roll out, one of my clones just got dispelled a few streets over!"

They made it over to the shop in question, only to see the culprit beating a hasty retreat. Naruto nodded to Aiko to pursue while he doubled around to cut them off.

-TRM-

Naruto dropped into the road and immediately decided to resort to one of the more… unorthodox… techniques in his arsenal. Calling up the memory of a random kunoichi he remembered seeing walking around Konoha before, he adopted a ram seal and called out the name of his jutsu, "Oiroke no Jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke and every male in the street instantly keeled over backwards.

The bandit, however, did not move and instead raised their head.

The blood drained from not only Naruto's henged face but the rest of his body as he looked upon the face of the kunoichi he had chosen to impersonate, "Um… uh oh."

Behind the thief, Aiko wondered why Naruto suddenly looked so worried until she came around and saw that the original version of the person Naruto had turned into was standing there, gazing directly at Naruto.

Naruto swallowed; the henge dropping as he stared back at the woman, who had now straightened up and was radiating killing intent, "You little _pervert_… like taking my body and parading it around naked, do you? Sen'eijashu!"

Naruto yelped as he dodged the snakes that had appeared from the woman's sleeves before turning and running, Aiko and the woman in hot pursuit.

"GET… BACK… HERE… YOU… LITTLE… PERVERT!"

"I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T REALIZE IT WAS YOU!"

The woman's only reply was to send the snakes at him again and swear, before there was a puff of smoke and another one appeared which seemed to double around to cut Naruto off.

Aiko opened her mouth to shout a warning, but at that moment Kakashi reappeared next to her, "Relax, it's just a Konoha kunoichi. She won't hurt him too badly."

Aiko cast an anxious look after Naruto, but then relented as she watched the clone of the kunoichi catch Naruto and disappear with him in a swirl of leaves.

-TRM-

Kakashi and Aiko returned to the hotel, and Naruto came in about an hour later looking grouchy. The reason _why_ he was grouchy was obvious was because he was in his Oiroke no Jutsu form (clothed), and the kunoichi was directly behind him looking cheerful.

Kakashi cast Naruto a one-eyed look from behind his Icha Icha, "What did she do to you?"

Naruto growled, "I'm not sure. Some kind of jutsu that locked me in my Oiroke form and I don't know how long it lasts."

Kakashi turned to the kunoichi, "Anko, how long will this last?"

Anko grinned, "A week and a half at the maximum. Should teach the gaki a valuable lesson about using my body without asking."

Naruto grumbled, "You wouldn't have known about it if you hadn't been stealing dango… ow!"

Anko had smacked him on the head, "I didn't steal it! I left money in the tills; they just freaked out and apparently never noticed!"

Kakashi sighed and started to put away his book, but at that moment a little monkey appeared in the window, "Hello. Is there a Kakashi Hatake here?"

Kakashi nodded, "Me. Is something up?"

The monkey scratched his tiny armpit, "The Sandaime wanted me to deliver a message. Team 8 were on an escort mission in the Land of Waves when they were attacked by ninja. You're supposed to head off to Wave and join up with them as reinforcements. Anko Mitarashi, meanwhile, is to return to Konoha at once."

Kakashi nodded and turned to his genin, "Gear up, we're moving out then."

**(A/N: From this point onwards until the jutsu breaks, Naruto will be referred to as though he were a girl.)**

-TRM-

**Several hours later.**

Naruto, Aiko and Kakashi dropped onto the road and looked around. Naruto sniffed, her nose crinkling up slightly before she turned around to Kakashi, "I can smell blood. Not enough for someone to die, but there's definitely a fair bit of blood. I'd say at least one person got hurt…"

Kakashi moved around the road, his single eye surveying the area. Finally he raised his headband and gave it another scan, "They were walking down the road with their client… two ninja attacked them." He crouched beside some score marks in the road, "Kiba and Akamaru used their Gatsūga, but were evaded."

He moved onto a series of marks which suggested a heavy body had hit the ground, "I think Hinata used her Jyūken here and managed to bring down one…" His fingers moved to a patch of slightly damp dirt, "Evidence of a Mist Shunshin here… two Kiri-nins and one managed to grab their friend and carried them off with a shunshin. Ah, here's the blood, and a kunai. It seems that Shino or Kurenai was able to throw a kunai and get in a non-fatal blow."

He turned to the two genin, replacing his headband. Naruto swallowed, "Can you teach me how to scan places and find out what happened like that?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, "Later. Now we need to catch up with Team 8."

Aiko frowned, "What about Kurenai-sensei? Wouldn't she have been able to fight?"

Kakashi pointed to a series of footprints on the ground some distance away, "By the look of it, she engaged the other with taijutsu while the genin dealt with the first one. Now come on."

Naruto sniffed and moved over to the mess of footprints before pointing at a slightly discoloured patch of dirt, "Blood. Kurenai-sensei got hit too…" She knelt down and sniffed the patch, "And I can smell poison. Whoever attacked them must've had poisoned weaponry."

Kakashi's face turned even more serious, "Then we need to catch up with them very quickly. I have absolute faith in Kurenai's abilities but there is still a chance she may not be able to properly counter the poison."

They headed off down the road at an open sprint, eager to catch up with their fellows.

-TRM-

They soon reached the shore (Naruto having eventually picked up Aiko on her back since she tired so much quicker than Kakashi and Naruto) and stepped onto what appeared to be the beginnings of a bridge.

Naruto allowed Aiko to climb off her back and sighed, "I guess there's only one way across this since we haven't started on water-walking yet." She flashed through seals and then slammed her hands against the surface of the bridge, "Kuchiyose: Tori!"

A huge drill-beaked bird appeared and Naruto climbed on, taking up a position just behind its head as Aiko and Kakashi climbed on behind her. They took off and flew through the air, following the bridge, until they reached what seemed to be an island.

The bird gave a soft call, and Naruto closed her eyes as the bird tilted its head and looked down.

A second passed before Naruto spoke, "I can see a fight going on down there." Without waiting for an answer she pulled the bird into a spiralling descent and leaned over the bird's side, "Okay sensei, if you jump off here you should be able to get the drop on the guy attacking Kurenai-sensei."

Kakashi nodded and vaulted off the bird. They heard a loud noise like crackling and chirping combined as he dropped, before Naruto flew on and said, "Aiko-chan, jump here. You should be able to help Shino against what I think is a clone attacking him."

Aiko nodded and jumped from the bird, while Naruto pulled it around and began scanning for Hinata. He finally found her standing beside a man he guessed must be the client with Kiba and Akamaru unconscious on the other side of him… and there was another clone creeping up behind her.

Naruto cursed slightly before pulling the bird into a sharp dive.

-TRM-

Hinata heard a loud snap behind her, and instantly pinpointed the noise as being directly in her blind spot. She whirled around, only to catch a punch to the cheek and fall over, whereupon her attacker raised his huge sword over his head and said, "Say goodbye!"

There was a loud voice from above, "Goodbye! Banshō Ten'in!"

The sword was ripped from the man's hand and shot up out of the way, before a bird suddenly swooped out of nowhere and _Naruto _jumped off it with the man's sword in his hand and landed in front of Hinata.

"Hinata? Are you alright?"

"Naruto-kun? What happened to your voice?"

Naruto frowned, "A run-in with a Konoha kunoichi who thought it'd be a cute idea to lock me in my Oiroke form for an indefinite period of time."

A tick-mark appeared on the jōnin's forehead, "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

Naruto cast him a look, "Be quiet. Me and my friend are talking here- urk!"

The jōnin drove his fist into Naruto's stomach and took the blade back, before swinging at them again.

There was a loud clang as Naruto drew the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma in both hands and blocked the blade. Her arms shook slightly as the man's blade pressed lower and lower.

The two swords ground against each other for a long moment before Naruto suddenly channelled chakra through the hilt, releasing the kodachi and thrusting it towards the attacker's side.

He dodged out of the way and retreated to a safe distance, "Well, well, well, unless my eyes deceive me that is the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma, the weapon of Konoha no Aka Shibyō Bōseki (Spinning Red Death of Konoha). Are you related to her then?"

Naruto straightened up, "She was my mother."

The man grinned underneath the bandages over his face, "Then let us fight; the daughter of the Spinning Red Death of the Leaf against the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi!"

-TRM-

Kurenai blinked as a lightning-covered hand went straight through the chest of the shinobi she was fighting before he melted into water, revealing himself as a Mizu Bunshin and Kakashi standing behind him, "Hello, Kurenai-san."

Kurenai smiled, "I assume you're our backup then?"

Kakashi nodded, before there was a loud clash of metal from somewhere close by and the two jōnin looked around. Exchanging a quick glance, the pair headed off in that direction.

-TRM-

Zabuza snorted as the duo he was fighting were joined by four others, half of which were also female, "Is this why Konoha is weak? They have too many kunoichi!"

A certain killing intent began to emanate from three of the females, and Zabuza began to sweat slightly before the blonde female suddenly whipped out a brace of kunai and shouted, "Shinra Tensei!"

In the treeline, Haku had reacted at the female killing intent and thrown his senbon with pinpoint accuracy.

-TRM-

Zabuza was just moving out of the way of the kunai when two senbon hit him in the neck and caused him to stumble, which in turn allowed the kunai to sink into Zabuza's chest one after another.

The shinobi and kunoichi looked left as one, before what appeared to be a Kiri hunter-nin emerged from the trees. "I thank you for your assistance in the apprehension of Zabuza Momochi."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as the Rinnegan deactivated, sensing something wrong but unable to work out exactly what it was, "No problem. I'm sure you would do the same for us if the positions were reversed."

The hunter-nin picked up Zabuza's body on their back and nodded, "By your leave…" Then they disappeared with the body.

Aiko blinked, "That was odd… but let's keep moving before something _else_ happens."

-TRM-

They gathered up Kiba and Akamaru before heading off to the house of the client, whose name turned out to be Tazuna.

Kiba woke up halfway there and immediately started hitting on Naruto, until Aiko disabused him of his conceptions that (male) Naruto had been replaced by someone else. The boy was utterly horrified to discover that the cute blonde he'd been hitting on was Naruto. At least, until he heard the story of how Naruto had wound up in his current situation and laughed so hard he was almost sick down his front.

On the other hand, Hinata had blushed at the thought of Naruto using his Sexy Jutsu (while also trying to suppress a sudden nosebleed at the thought of a little action with the blond "female"), Shino had had no reaction and Kurenai, after a brief thinning of her lips which showed her disapproval of Naruto's jutsu, had decided that Naruto's punishment was both fitting and satisfactory.

-TRM-

When they arrived at Tazuna's house, the first thing that Naruto did was fire off a set of clones which scattered around the house, changing to various henged forms in order to stay below the radar.

Tazuna introduced them to his daughter Tsunami and her son Inari, and after the little boy shouted about how they were all going to die the ninja settled into a spare room for a conversation.

"So," said Kakashi quietly as he finished spreading some of Hinata's anti-poison balm on Kurenai's cut and started bandaging it up, "What happened after I jumped from the bird to assist Kurenai-san?"

Naruto swallowed, tapping a finger against her chin, "I dispatched Aiko-chan to assist Shino, then scanned the ground looking for Hinata. I finally found her with what I now know to have been the original Zabuza creeping up behind her."

Hinata nodded when Kurenai looked over at her before Naruto continued, "I saw her turn and him raise his weapon to attack, so I utilized one of my Rinnegan techniques to disarm him. After that, I jumped from the bird to go to Hinata's defence, only to be disarmed and engaged by Zabuza."

Kurenai frowned at him, "You mean you actually tried to _fight_ him? He's one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, did you really think you could fight him one-on-one?"

Naruto scowled, "I said he engaged me, not I engaged him. When he swung at me, I drew my own blade in order to block before releasing the second blade and attempting to strike him in the side. It failed; he recognized the blade and then proceeded to attack again in an attempt to prove the Seven Swordsmen's superiority over the Spinning Red Death of Konoha."

Kurenai sighed, understanding the logic. As Kakashi withdrew his hands, she flexed her arm and smiled at Hinata, "Thank you Hinata. That balm of yours is a lifesaver."

"Well," said Kakashi, "I'm afraid that Zabuza might still be alive." At the mystified looks from the genin, he explained, "Kiri hunter-nin are trained to kill missing-nins and destroy their bodies on the spot where they fell to ensure that their secrets are kept. That hunter-nin took the body, what does that tell you?"

Naruto clapped her hands together, "We didn't see Zabuza's dead body be destroyed, so we can't know for certain that he's dead!"

Kakashi nodded, "Then there's the fact that senbon are rarely lethal weapons. Even when they are wielded by a master of their use, the spots I saw those senbon hit didn't coincide with any points that I know would cause instant death. That means that that hunter-nin wasn't who they appeared to be; they were in fact an accomplice of Zabuza."

Kurenai surveyed them, "As such all of you must begin training at once to ensure that you are ready for Zabuza's return. What do you and Aiko know?"

Naruto cracked her knuckles, "I have my Rinnegan techniques. Aiko has her Sharingan and a few Katon ninjutsu."

Kurenai nodded, "Very well. How good are you at chakra control? Can you tree-walk?"

Naruto frowned, "Not quite, but we're getting close to being able to stay stuck to a tree-trunk upside down while sparring with taijutsu."

Kurenai nodded, "That's very good. Much better than Kiba," she gave the dog-using genin in question a harsh glare, "Who would rather goof off and teach Akamaru to pee on command than practice his chakra control."

Kiba scowled, "It's a legitimate strategy! It's called Dynamic Marking!"

Naruto frowned, "You ever pull that off on either me or Aiko and I will Shinra Tensei you into the women's hot springs… while it's full of ANBU kunoichi."

Kiba paled and nodded fervently, "Yes, ma'am."

"Don't call me ma'am."

"Yes, sir."

-TRM-

The five genin turned out into a clearing behind Tazuna's house the next morning for training (after Naruto had replaced the clones; a number of which had been attacked by various night animals), to find that only Kurenai was standing in front of them.

"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Kurenai smiled, "He's guarding Tazuna at the bridge today."

Naruto nodded as Aiko spoke, "So what are we doing today then?"

Kurenai smiled, "The four of you may finish practicing your tree-walking and then move onto water-walking. Kiba…" she gave the boy in question a look which made him shiver, "will be practicing his tree-walking under supervision."

Kiba whined, but his response was cut off as Naruto, Aiko, Hinata and Shino set off to find a patch of trees in which to practice.

-TRM-

Their tree-walking practice was over quickly; the four genin either achieving the milestone they had set for themselves or helping one another achieve it. They also located a spot where four thick branches on different trees overlapped and proceeded to engage one another in a vicious four-way taijutsu spar.

It transpired that they all had different styles, which made it even more interesting. Aiko's style was more smooth and graceful but was able to adapt as her Sharingan picked up her opponent's moves. Hinata's was like a more flexible version of the Jyūken; relying mostly on gentle taps and palm strikes more than punches and kicks. Shino's style was more conservative than any of the others but was equally as effective, while Naruto's outdid the rest by way of pure force.

-TRM-

They moved back to the house and began water-walking from the jetty just outside it. Tsunami came out to watch them as Naruto finally got the trick after Kurenai came by to check on them. She watched her with the Rinnegan active and soon came to the conclusion that the trick was to keep the chakra flow fluctuating constantly. She quickly shared this with her comrades before starting on his theory. Before fifteen minutes had passed, all four had got the technique down pat.

It was as they were taking drinks from Tsunami that she dropped the tray and stared over their heads. All four genin turned to see a massive craft cutting through the water less than five hundred feet from their position. "What is it?" said Naruto.

Tsunami swallowed, "That's Gatō's private yacht. He won't be on it; it got damaged in a storm a couple of weeks back and was taken off to a shipyard in Kawa no Kuni for repairs."

Naruto grinned, "Then let's send a little message." She created a clone, which henged into a bird and flew off to the yacht.

"What's it doing?" asked Tsunami of the blond genin, who grinned.

"Just watch."

There was a sudden pause, before a flurry of voices echoed across the water from the yacht. A second later the yacht spontaneously imploded, crumpling in on itself like a paper cup and sinking from sight.

Tsunami gasped, "What did you do?"

Naruto laughed somewhat maniacally, "Banshō Ten'in. An attack that manipulates gravity to pull things towards me. If I have a Kage Bunshin execute the attack, he can pull everything in the vicinity towards him, including the hull of that yacht. He triggered that technique in the hold, with the result you have just witnessed."

Aiko gave a quiet giggle, "_Awesome_."

-TRM-

Kyūbi flicked his tails and grinned as he put the finishing touches to his little brainchild. He had decided that since he had outdone himself with the Rinnegan and Sharingan (to the point where he arrogantly gave the Sharingan the ability to control him, which still made him wince at his own hubris all these years later), he was going to see what he could do with the Byakugan. As such he had created a clipboard and pen before turning to a human form and beginning to write.

He finally lay down and curled his tails around his body, waiting for his vessel to fall asleep so that he could begin setting things up.

-TRM-

That night, Kyūbi waited until very early in the morning to make sure that everybody was asleep before he tugged on Naruto's chakra, creating a Kage Bunshin and possessing it.

Sneaking out of the bedroom door, he crept along to the girls' room and slipped inside.

Hinata was lying asleep under the window, so Kyūbi tiptoed across the room and bent over her, touching a single finger, glowing red with his chakra, to her forehead.

Hinata stirred, "Mmm… Naruto-kun?"

Kyūbi forced down the urge to giggle; the girl was dreaming of his vessel. Instead he traced the finger over her left eyebrow, down around her eye, along her cheekbone and up the side of her nose to where he had started.

He repeated his pattern another two times around her left eye before doing the same thing around her right eye.

Finally he drew his hand back before delivering a hard poke to her forehead before dispelling the clone.

Hinata's eyes opened, her forehead tingling slightly, just in time to catch a quick glimpse of Naruto disappearing from where he… _he_… had been standing over her.

Smiling for a second at the thought that her crush had been watching over her, albeit by proxy, she rolled over and fell asleep again.

-TRM-

Back in Naruto's mindscape, Kyūbi cackled to himself, _**"Let's see how you do with this little gift, Hyūga girl. Next time you get forced to throw down for real, you might find a little surprise waiting for you."**_

-TRM-

"Kuchiyose: Inu!"

An enormous dog appeared in front of the group of genin, growling and snarling before it dispelled again.

Naruto grinned, "Kuchiyose: Kamereon!"

A large chameleon appeared behind where Naruto stood, flicked its tongue out and hit the top of a tree before dispelling.

"Kuchiyose: Ushi!"

A huge ox appeared and pawed the ground, snorting as it tossed its head before it too dispelled.

"Kuchiyose: Panda!"

A gigantic panda poofed into existence and looked around before disappearing again.

"Kuchiyose: Sai!"

A rhino the size of a house appeared under Naruto before snorting and dispelling again, leaving Naruto to flash through seals again in mid-air.

"Kuchiyose: Kani!"

Aiko grinned as a large crab appeared underneath Naruto and caught her before dispelling and depositing her back onto the ground at high speed.

As soon as she'd pulled her head out of the face-shaped dent and cast a glare at her comrades, who were all giggling (with the exception of Shino, who was simply regarding her with just a raised eyebrow), she flashed through the seals one more time and spoke, "Kuchiyose: Mushi!"

Shino's other eyebrow ratcheted up as Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing a second later on top of the biggest insect he had ever seen.

Kakashi appeared out of the trees, "Naruto, get down here."

The insect dispelled and Naruto landed on the ground, "Hey Kakashi-sensei. Where's Kurenai-sensei?"

Kakashi frowned, "In bed back at the house. It seems that the balm was at best a temporary measure, so she's feeling a little under the weather at the moment." He saw Hinata's crestfallen expression and quickly backtracked, "I'm not saying she's going to die; the balm worked to that extent. She's just feeling ill from the residue."

Naruto folded her arms, "So, what are we going to do then?"

Kakashi nodded, "What have you been doing?"

Naruto grinned, "I can do all my Kuchiyose summonings now. Just one more to try… Kuchiyose: Aiko!"

Aiko gave a yelp of surprise as she suddenly vanished from her position beside Hinata and reappeared beside Naruto.

Naruto whooped, "It worked!"

Aiko smacked the "girl" upside the head, "Indeed it did, Naruto-sama. Now never do it again."

Naruto grinned, ignoring the stinging in the side of her head, "Of course, Aiko-chan."

-TRM-

That night, Naruto woke up to hear Kyūbi laughing his ass off inside her head. As she sat upright and looked towards the window in an attempt to find out what time it was, she became aware of an odd, warm dampness between her legs.

Frowning, Naruto slipped a hand inside her sleeping bag and felt around, withdrawing it a second later to see it covered in blood.

A few seconds later, every ninja in the house was awoken by a scream of "AHHHH! MY CROTCH IS BLEEDING!"

Kakashi and Kurenai were instantly on the scene, and it only took a few seconds for each to work out what was wrong. Kurenai's first reaction was, predictably, incredulity. _"Impossible… his henge can't be that advanced, can it?"_

Naruto was, predictably, freaking out, "What the hell's happening?"

Kurenai frowned, "Naruto, how advanced is this henge of yours?"

Naruto's brows furrowed, "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Please answer the question."

"Um… I'd have to say it's advanced enough to pass for the real thing up close."

Kurenai nodded, "You may have a more accurate model there than you think. Kakashi, I'll handle this; it requires a female touch."

Naruto gulped; somehow that didn't sound good in the slightest. Kakashi nodded and headed out of the room.

Kurenai turned to Naruto and tugged a sealing scroll from… _somewhere_… (Naruto being unable to see any pockets on her outfit), before producing something which resembled a little cotton tube with a string on one end.

Kurenai noticed the boy-turned-girl's confused expression and decided to explain, "Naruto, this is called a tampon…"

-TRM-

Naruto was moving oddly gingerly the next morning, and simply went red whenever anybody asked her what the problem was. It was for this reason that she was relieved when, later that evening after training, Inari drew attention away from her.

"Why are you doing this? It's useless! You're all just going to die; you can't beat Gatō!"

Naruto got up and grabbed the small boy by the collar, "Maybe you've given up, but we're not. Is your grandfather giving up? No! He's continuing to build the bridge regardless, because he believes he can save his people even though he could die while doing it! He hasn't given up!"

She dropped the boy back onto the floor and strode towards the door. "Naruto-sama?" Aiko said tentatively, "Where are you going?"

Naruto gave a hiss of anger as she opened the front door, "To blow off steam."

As soon as Naruto had made it into the trees, she created two dozen clones and drew the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma before releasing the kodachi-part and charging into battle.

-TRM-

Haku walked through the trees looking for herbs, only to see a figure lying on their side on the ground.

Walking over, he saw that they looked suspiciously like a male version of the blond girl he had had to save Zabuza from a week before.

Walking over, Haku crouched down and poked him awake. A second later he found himself held by the shoulder of his kimono with the blade of a katana resting against his collarbone.

Naruto blinked the sleep from his eyes, "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The black-haired person smiled, "It's alright. I ought to have known better than to startle a shinobi. I'm Haku, by the way."

Naruto withdrew the katana and returned it to its sheath. "Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. So, do you live in the village, Haku-san?"

Haku nodded, "Yes. But my tou-san was injured by some of Gatō's goons a few days ago and I ran out of medicinal herbs this morning. I'm just collecting more."

Naruto smiled, "Let me help you."

The pair of them started gathering herbs until Naruto said, "You know, your voice isn't as indistinctive as you think it is Haku-san, or should I say, hunter-nin-san."

Haku stiffened briefly before his hand flashed out and hit Naruto across the throat, causing him to gasp for breath before Haku pulled a senbon from his yukata and stabbed it into Naruto's wrist. The serum quickly took effect and Naruto collapsed onto the ground in a limp heap.

Haku straightened up, "I'm sorry, Naruto-san. But I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to get in my way."

-TRM-

"Naruto isn't back yet," said Aiko in a very worried tone.

Kakashi shrugged, "We'll have to make do without him. Everyone, form up around Tazuna and we'll make a move towards the bridge. With luck, the bridge will be done today and that means that Gatō will probably make his move today."

Aiko nodded, but her face kept its worried expression as they all headed out the door.

-TRM-

Naruto groaned as he rolled over and coughed before rubbing the slightly inflamed spot on his wrist, "Damn it, I should have been expecting him to do that."

Standing up, he ran through the trees back towards the house as fast as he could.

-TRM-

The four genin and two jōnin arrived at the bridge with Tazuna to find all the bridge workers lying strewn around in various degrees of pain.

As Tazuna looked around anxiously and bent to shake one of the workers awake, mist rose all around them.

"So you're back up then, Zabuza?" said Kakashi out loud.

The bandaged missing-nin stepped out of the mist, his masked hunter-nin ally by his side and the two Demon Brothers flanking them.

Kakashi instantly took charge, "Aiko, Hinata, you take the hunter-nin. Kiba, Shino, you protect Tazuna and take the Demon Brothers. Kurenai, help me with Zabuza."

They split up.

-TRM-

Naruto skidded to a halt and looked around. The trees and bushes around him seemed to have been slashed up very badly, and some way away he could see a dead pig.

His eyes followed the footprints in the dirt until they came to a gap in the trees. In the distance he could see a pier he instantly recognized, _"Gatō's goons… they're going after Tsunami and Inari."_

He closed his eyes and focused on his Kage Bunshin, immediately receiving four different eye-views on two goons cutting Tazuna's front door in half. One of them turned and shouted before the clones suddenly shot in at high speed and the goons hit the deck covered in bruises.

Naruto opened his eyes again and turned towards where he knew the bridge was before flashing through seals, "Kuchiyose: Tori!"

A bird appeared, Naruto hurdled onto it and it took off.

-TRM-

Kiba and Shino stood on either side of Tazuna, parrying the Demon Brothers' claw gauntlets with kunai as they kept the duo away. Finally the two missing-nin retreated and produced their chain, whipping it straight towards the trio.

-TRM-

Naruto looked down from the bird to see two ninja whipping a long chain towards Kiba, Shino and Tazuna.

Adopting his cross-seal, he created three clones and jettisoned them from the bird.

-TRM-

Below, Kiba and Shino were just preparing to parry the chain when three figures dropped in front of them.

The middle one brought down a sword, slicing the chain in half down the middle. As the Demon Brothers continued running the clones on either side of the one with the sword turned in opposite directions and yelled, "BANSHŌ TEN'IN!"

The Demon Brothers were wrenched off their feet and sent crashing into one another, their heads banging together sharply and sending them to the ground, where they were both flipped over, had their claw gauntlets removed and hands bound back-to-back so that they couldn't do seals.

"Naruto!" shouted Kiba, "You made it!"

One of the Bunshin turned, "Yup. The boss is above on a bird. Where are the others?"

Shino pushed his glasses up, "Hinata and Aiko are fighting the hunter-nin, Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei are fighting Zabuza."

The Kage Bunshin nodded, "Got it. Keep an eye on these two." A second later all three dispelled.

Naruto scanned the bridge, looking for Hinata and Aiko and finally spotted a dome of what looked like mirrors. Turning the bird towards it he waited until he was directly above and then jumped.

-TRM-

Hinata and Aiko were standing back to back, each of them looking at the mirrors surrounding them and the masked hunter-nins reflected in their surfaces. Each girl had a number of senbon embedded in their arms from using them to protect their faces, and their eyes were bleeding badly; Aiko's from activating her second tomoe and Hinata from something she couldn't identify, but her eyesight was sharper when her Byakugan was active, she no longer had a blind-spot behind her head, when she raised her hand to wipe the blood from her cheeks she had discovered that she no longer had the pronounced veins characteristic of an active Byakugan.

The hunter-nin produced some more senbon from their pocket, "So you both have dōjutsu. Interesting, but against my Hyōton kekkei genkai there can be no victory, especially when I use my Makyō Hyōshō."

Aiko was about to reply when something heavy landed on the mirror directly above them. As the two girls looked up, a figure swung in from the mirror and landed directly in between them. It was Naruto, seemingly back in his normal form and with his arms spread wide, "Drop and roll!"

Both girls immediately dropped and rolled as Naruto looked directly into the hunter-nin's mask and bellowed, "SHINRA TENSEI!"

The mirror dome survived the onslaught for about half a second before the mirrors exploded outwards in millions of fragments. Haku flashed out of one of the fragments and landed in a puddle of water, immediately stomping and yelling, "Sensatsu Suishō!"

A storm of ice needles rose from the puddle and shot at Naruto, only to be taken back out of the fight by Aiko who shouted, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Hinata was into the fight again in a matter of seconds, striking Haku hard in the centre of his chest.

Haku instantly felt all his chakra be sealed off as the girl hit him directly at the outlet of his chakra coils, sealing it off entirely and rendering his body numb.

Hinata smiled as Naruto flipped Haku over and bound his wrists back-to-back, "It's nice to see that you're back to normal, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded, "Nice to be back to normal. Only problem is…" he winded and reached into his waistband before tugging, "Gotcha you little bugger!" He pulled out something small and white and threw it over the side of the bridge.

Aiko couldn't help her curiosity, "What was that?"

Naruto shrugged, "The tampon Kurenai-sensei gave me after the other night. I don't understand how women handle those things, they're so uncomfortable."

Aiko smiled benignly, "We manage just fine."

Naruto snorted, "Yeah well us poor male mortals, on the other hand…"

He straightened up and looked at Aiko, "I see you got your second tomoe, Aiko-chan."

Aiko nodded, "One more and I can have Kyū-sama upgrade it to the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. I think Hinata-sama has the bigger surprise however."

Naruto met Hinata's eyes and gasped, "Hinata-chan, your eyes…" Creating a Kage Bunshin and having it henge into a mirror, he held it up for Hinata to look.

Hinata inspected her reflection. The obvious difference was that the veins around her eyes no longer stood out, but there was also a flower motif with one azure petal around the faint line bordering her pupil.

"_Alright, fox," _Naruto thought, _"You know anything about this?"_

A chuckle echoed from the recesses of his mind, _**"An experiment to see how I could improve the Byakugan. I'm pleased to see it worked."**_

Naruto growled, _"You don't experiment on my friends!"_

Kyūbi snorted, _**"What are you so grumpy about? She's fine! By the way, did you know that your little Hinata-chan dreams about you?"**_

Naruto stopped dead and the two kunoichi could only guess at what was causing the rapid flurry of emotions crossing his face.

Finally he shook his head and said, "Let's go help our senseis…"

Before either girl could say a word, Naruto created a couple of Kage Bunshin to watch Haku and ran off into the mist.

"What was that about?" Hinata wondered.

Aiko shrugged, "I sometimes wonder if Naruto-sama is not in denial about being a pervert…"

She walked off, leaving Hinata with an odd expression on her face. Finally the Hyūga girl seemed to come back to herself and followed.

-TRM-

Zabuza was just about to slash down on Kurenai with his blade when a sudden cry of "Banshō Ten'in!" ripped it from his grasp, followed by a mass of Kage Bunshin dogpiling him and, by the sudden weakness he felt, absorbing his chakra.

The original Naruto walked up a second later with the Kubikiribōchō leaning on his shoulder, "Hiya Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei."

"Naruto," said Kakashi irritably, though he was unable to keep a note of relief out of his voice, "What have I told you about getting into fights where the odds are stacked against you?"

Naruto gave him a deadpan look, "What have you told us about following the rules and abandoning teammates and such? I prefer being scum to worse than scum. Besides, I had it all planned out."

Kurenai sighed, "At least the threats on Tazuna's life have been neutralized. Now he can finish the bridge."

"Not so fast!" said a snide voice.

The shinobi and kunoichi all turned to see a short man with a bandaged arm at the head of what looked to be a small army of thugs. The man smirked as he tapped the end of his cane against the ground, "I'll give you twice what the bridge-builder paid if you just kill him now."

There was a cry of "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" and about five hundred clones appeared and drew their swords.

The original Naruto stepped up to the head of the clone army and smirked, "Still think you outnumber us?"

Gatō laughed nastily, "Kill them all and you can have the women for yourselves! They should still fetch a good price when they've been properly tamed!"

Naruto's face hardened, "Not happening, Gatō. Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The clone army doubled and the new five hundred clones drew their own weapons.

The thugs looked at each other and wisely began to back away.

"CHARGE!" yelled Naruto and the clones did exactly that.

-TRM-

**Four days later.**

"So… I guess this is goodbye," Naruto admitted as he shook Tazuna's hand and ruffled Inari's hair.

Tazuna grinned and ruffled the blond's hair in return, "Yeah, I guess so. It was good to meet you, kid."

Behind them, Haku hugged Zabuza, "I'll miss you, tou-san.

Naruto smirked, "I'll be back to see you some time. See how Wave is handling!"

Tazuna nodded before he turned and announced, "I guess there's just one order of business left; naming the bridge!"

Inari yelled, "The Great Naruto Bridge!"

Naruto opened his mouth but his protest was lost amid the cheering as the people of Wave demonstrated their liking of the name Inari had put forth.

-TRM-

"Well," said Aiko cheerfully as they stepped off the bridge and turned to bid Wave one last goodbye, "That was fun. What are we going next?"

Kakashi eye-smiled, "The Chūnin Exams are coming up soon. Do you two think you're ready?"

Naruto grinned, "Hell yeah!"

Kurenai frowned, "You need a third genin to be able to compete. Do you have anybody in mind?"

The two genin of Team 7 thought for a minute before Aiko said, "We'll cross that bride when we come to it."

Naruto smirked, "Maybe we could steal Hinata-chan away from you. A full team of dōjutsu-users would be awesome!"

Kurenai chuckled, "I'm afraid that Hinata is not available."

Naruto's smirk widened, "Hinata-chan? I'll give you some cinnamon rolls if you defect to Team 7 until the Exams are over."

Hinata blinked once, "You play dirty Naruto-kun, but I can't abandon my teammates."

Naruto laughed, "Shame. The idea was cool while it lasted."

Aiko smiled, "Maybe you should take Hinata-san on a date to make up for it?"

Hinata went red and giggled to herself at the thought.

"Hush, Aiko-chan," Naruto playfully admonished, but he didn't deny the idea had some merit as he kept walking.

-TRM-

Their return to Konoha was without much pomp and circumstance, as was to be expected; the genin of Teams 7 and 8 went their separate ways while Kakashi and Kurenai escorted Haku, Gōzu and Meizu before the Hokage (Zabuza having remained in Wave to assist in dismantling Gatō's holdings) and issue their reports.

Naruto and Aiko chose to go and get some food to celebrate the successful completions of their first missions outside Konoha. Therefore it was no surprise that they ended up at Ichiraku's, where Naruto regaled Ayame with the story of how he took down four missing-nins in under ten minutes.

"Wow," said Ayame once he was finished, "You've really come a long way since the Academy, haven't you? Seems like just yesterday you were in here complaining about failing to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto winced as Aiko laughed openly, her onyx eyes sparkling as she regarded her master affectionately.

"Ayame-chaaaaaaaaaaaan!" he whined, prompting a laugh from the ramen waitress.

"You're still too easy to wind up, Naruto-kun."

She ignored his pout as she took his and Aiko's empty bowls into the back to be washed up, prompting the blond genin and his raven-haired compatriot to leave their bill on the bar and depart.

-TRM-

That evening proved to be an important milestone in the duo's personal training. Haku, now happily wearing a Leaf headband, came over to visit after getting Sarutobi to divulge their address and found them working on the water balloons that comprised the first stage of their Rasengan training.

Once Naruto had told him what they were trying (unsuccessfully) to do, the ice-using nin had watched for all of five seconds before taking Naruto's balloon and bursting it directly over the blond's head.

After Naruto had dried himself and Aiko had stopped laughing, Haku proceeded to explain that the trick wasn't to just move the water in one direction but to rotate it in multiple directions at once.

When Naruto called him on how he knew this, Haku had simply shrugged, "Some of my Hyōton techniques require a great deal of chakra control. After a while you start to pick up on this stuff at a glance."

After that both genin succeeded in bursting their balloons and moved onto trying to burst the rubber balls.

Naruto managed this step in seconds as his ball exploded, sending bits of rubber everywhere and making a noise like a cannon going off. Aiko, on the other hand, only made a hole in her ball, so she got a new one and started over.

Naruto moved onto normal balloons and trying _not_ to pop them, so the sounds of bursting balloons interspersed with curses filled the rest of the evening before Haku bid them goodnight and headed off back to the apartment he now shared with Gōzu and Meizu.

-TRM-

Kakashi got them started on elemental manipulation or, as he called it, "Nature Transformation" the very next day. They already knew that Naruto could use all the elements because of the Rinnegan, so Kakashi handed Aiko a piece of chakra paper to test her affinities.

The paper crumpled before bursting into flames. Kakashi tapped his chin in thought, "Fire, I understand; you are an Uchiha. But lightning as well? You will be a terrifying kunoichi in later life, Aiko."

Aiko smiled, and Kakashi picked up a leaf from the ground, "Try to crumple this with your chakra."

Aiko nodded and sat down with the leaf in her hand, staring at it.

Naruto looked around at her before addressing Kakashi. Once he had the information he needed about elemental training, he created about sixty clones and separated them into groups of twelve. Once each group had a leaf each, Naruto directed them to practice different things; one group to cut the leaf with wind chakra, another to burn it with fire chakra, and so on.

As the groups settled in to their work, Naruto created a dozen clones and directed them to sit in a line before he walked behind them and put his hand on the first one's head.

Kakashi recognized this as the interrogation technique that he had been told could be used by the Human Path, though he could already tell that Naruto's particular method of practicing it wasn't going to work since he already learnt what the clones did when they dispelled.

As he watched Naruto's expression became steadily more irritated, and finally he made a mental note to ask Ibiki and Anko if they would be willing to allow Naruto to practice that technique on the prisoners.

Finally Naruto dispelled the two remaining clones and produced a balloon from his pocket. Kakashi's single visible eyebrow went straight up as Naruto focused on the balloon, only for it to pop a second later.

Kakashi's visible eye went almost comically wide as he caught a glimpse of a ball of chakra before it dissipated.

"How do you know that technique, Naruto?"

Naruto cast him a puzzled look, "It was in the letter kaa-san left for me. She left me the scroll containing the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma and information on where to find the scrolls containing the katas. Tou-san left three scrolls; the instructions for the Rasengan and the Hiraishin and a sealing scroll containing a load of Hiraishin kunai. I haven't started working on the Hiraishin yet, that'll wait until I master the Rasengan."

Kakashi nodded, "How far along with it are you?"

Naruto shrugged, "We managed to complete the first stage last night. Aiko-chan's still on the second stage; I completed the second stage on my first try."

Kakashi chuckled, "Sometimes I think you're more of a prodigy than your father was. It took him three years to master the Rasengan; you've come closer to mastering it in only about a month."

Naruto simply grunted and returned to staring at the balloon.

"Well," said Kakashi, drawing Naruto's attention away from his balloon to where the jōnin was holding a spinning ball of chakra in one hand, "If you saw the jutsu in action, would that give you a bit more incentive?"

He walked over to a tree and slammed the ball into the tree trunk. Chips of wood flew everywhere as the attack ground a perfectly circular hole into the bark.

He turned back to see Naruto openly gaping before the blond snapped out of his daze and got back to work on the balloon in his hand.

-TRM-

"What did you need me for, Hinata?" Naruto asked as she took up her position across from him, the girl having come over early that morning and asked for his aid.

"Kurenai-sensei mentioned yesterday that I needed somebody to help test my new Byakugan on. She suggested you, and since nobody in my clan knows anything about it yet and my team-mates have their own training to do…"

Naruto nodded, "Say no more." He settled into a taijutsu stance and activated his Rinnegan as two clones appeared on each side of him, "Shall we begin then?"

Hinata's pupils slowly cycled into view, the single azure petal denoting her unique Byakugan showing up prominently against her lavender iris. She looked straight at him and suddenly gasped, "Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked down to see her staring at his navel, "What?"

Hinata moved closer, her eyes fixed on what she could see illuminated against Naruto's black jacket; a large nine-tailed fox, curled up and waving one paw idly in her direction.

"What do you see?" Naruto murmured.

Hinata looked up at him, "A nine-tailed fox…"

Naruto's clones immediately went straight off to scan the field for anyone around while the original sat her on the ground and said, "Hinata, this is officially an S-rank secret that you've uncovered. The real truth is that the Yondaime wasn't able to kill the Kyūbi, instead he was forced to seal it into a newborn baby; me."

Hinata covered her mouth, "Why would he do that?"

Naruto smiled, "Best guess? He couldn't in good conscience use somebody else's kid for the task of being the Kyūbi's jinchūriki when he could use his own child."

Hinata's jaw dropped, "What? You're the Yondaime's son?"

Naruto nodded, "In the flesh. Come on, has nobody seen how much I look like him?"

Hinata giggled, "I guess that's true. So… shall we get back to our little spar, now that we've obviously gotten around our secrets?"

Naruto nodded as his clones returned to his side and settled into their taijutsu stances, "Let's begin."

Hinata dropped into the Jyūken stance before jumping forwards and striking out at the blond.

-TRM-

They started to discover what Hinata's enhanced Byakugan was capable of during their spar, aside from being able to see through spectacularly complex fūinjutsu. One of the first techniques they discovered was the lack of a blind spot that Hinata remembered as being common to those with a Byakugan. Naruto, having been told of this blind spot seconds before by Kyūbi, attempted to exploit it but instead received a powerful Jyūken strike to the abdomen for his trouble.

A few seconds after that they found that the enhanced Byakugan could quite easily pick up an entre range of pressure points and tenketsu that the normal Byakugan apparently could not pick up. As a direct result, Naruto had to learn to fight with numb limbs, and once or twice it was only Naruto's intervention with a burst of chakra that kicked Naruto's heart back up to its normal rate of palpitation when Hinata, still inexperienced in the use of the complete omniscience concerning her opponent's body she had been granted, accidentally shut off his chakra coils or, on one memorable occasion, just shut his heart down entirely.

The last thing they discovered was that by initiating eye contact and shaping some chakra, Hinata was able to trap her target in a genjutsu of some kind of reverse world where all the normal brain signals were messed up so that, as Naruto discovered (and had great fun with), trying to move your left arm moved your right leg and vice versa. Kyūbi called the technique "Sakanade", proudly fluffing his tails at what he saw as "one of his finest works".

They finally said their goodbyes and headed back to their own homes, Naruto walking Hinata to the Hyūga compound and bestowing a gentle kiss on the back of her hand on the spur of the moment before departing.

Hinata giggled to herself all the way back to her room, drawing smiles from the Branch Hyūga she passed, who were happy to see that the heiress to the Main Branch was so obviously in love.

-TRM-

Naruto walked into his home to find Aiko already cooking dinner. She smiled when she saw him, "Welcome back, Naruto-sama."

Naruto smiled, "Hiya Aiko-chan. Any news?"

Aiko slapped his hand away as he tried to steal some of the meat she was slicing, "Haku-san stopped by with Kakashi-sensei. He's to be our third teammate for the Chūnin Exam."

Naruto nodded as he picked up a wooden spoon and began stirring the stew on the stove, "That sounds good. What do you think they'll have us do?"

Aiko dropped the meat into the stew pot and took the spoon, "I don't know. Kakashi-sensei advised me to look "underneath the underneath" for the first one when I asked though."

Naruto opened the cutlery drawer and began laying the table, "I wonder what that was meant to mean. Maybe the first test is some sort of trick."

Aiko shrugged, "Maybe. Unless we can coerce the exact details out of Kakashi-sensei, we won't know until we get into the test."

Naruto finished laying the table and went to get two glasses from the cupboard for milk. If there was one thing he had learned from having Aiko live with him, it was that she had an endearing (and somewhat painful) habit of making everything very spicy.

When he asked her about it, she said it was an old family tradition to make everything as spicy as possible in order to accustom trainees in the use of the Uchiha Katon techniques to the sheer heat produced by the technique. Since Aiko fully intended to teach Naruto all the Uchiha fire techniques once he could access his fire chakra, she reasoned that it was best for him to get used to the heat while she was able.

Her reasoning for forcing him to eat a lot of spicy food was that back before the massacre, she remembered a cousin of her mother's who, back before the Kyūbi attack, hadn't undergone the spice training and yet insisted on trying one of the Uchiha clan's most powerful Katon ninjutsu. It was apparently only the good fortune that Tsunade of the Sannin happened to be in the hospital when he was rushed in that saved him, though he was rendered mute and had to retire as a shinobi afterwards.

Remembering the clan turned her thoughts to Itachi, and she gripped the edge of the worktop as tears long restrained crept forth and rolled down her cheeks. "Why, nii-san?" she whispered to herself, closing her eyes, "Why did you do it? Why did you kill everybody we loved and cared about?"

Without thinking she turned off the heat and grabbed the metal handle of the pan.

Naruto jumped and spilt milk on the table as Aiko gave a cry of pain and leapt backwards, "Aiko-chan!"

Aiko found herself supported by Naruto as he sat down on a comfortable armchair and put her on his lap with a first-aid kit at his side, "Naruto-sama it's just a small burn, I'm fine!"

Naruto tutted, "That's a matter of opinion, now sit down and let me bandage your hand!"

Aiko smiled to herself and snuggled against Naruto's chest. Yes, she would eventually have to bring Itachi to book for his crime, but that could wait. Her Naruto-sama needed her now.

-TRM-

**Two weeks later.**

Naruto, Aiko and Haku stood in front of the building where the first phase of the Chūnin Exams was to take place.

"Well," said Naruto, cracking his neck and caressing the handle of the Tsuin Shinku-Shoku Akuma, "Let's go."

Aiko nodded, "Yes, let's go Naruto-sama."

They walked inside, stopped for about twenty seconds to diffuse a situation involving two chūnin under a henge and a minor genjutsu and finally proceeded to the third floor where Naruto kicked the doors open and looked around, "Hell yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!"

Killing intent poured on from all sides, but Naruto ignored it and replied with a blast of his own which sent all but about four people aside from his teammates scuttling for cover.

Before anybody could say anything there was a yell of, "QUIET DOWN YOU MAGGOTS!"

Everybody turned to see a tall man standing in front of a pair of doors, "I'm Ibiki Morino, proctor of the first test!"

-TRM-

Naruto shifted in his chair and looked around. He was seated beside Hinata and had a dozen or so clones orbiting around the room, henged into flies and with their Rinnegan active. All he had to do was activate his own Rinnegan and he would immediately have a perfect view of everyone else's answers once the test began.

Aiko was seated some distance to his right and just behind him. Haku was sitting quite a way behind her, looking around curiously.

"Right," said Ibiki, "I have explained the rules, so you don't need to hear them again." He glared around the room at them, meeting Naruto's unwavering return glare before turning to look at the rest of them, "The test will now… begin!"

**(A/N: …At last, at **_**long **_**last, I finished it. The rewrite of Maelstrom's Chapter 3 is done, with not a somewhat superfluous OC in sight! Sorry about that the first time… Anyway, now that I've finished this I can actually start work on some new chapters, since I neglected to begin them so I could concentrate on this one; though we know of course that it didn't work as I just ended up coming up with new story ideas. Damn muses being insatiable…**

**Eight or more voices from the next room: Oh Leo-kuuuuuuuuuuun…?**

**Oh crap. Anyway I'll just quickly wrap this up. Depending on what I can start writing during my lunch break at work tomorrow that will decide what I can start on next, though I'm inclined to guess it will be Reign because I have an idea on how to start that next chapter. Until then guys, this is Leonineus saying GOODNIGHT!)**


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